Escape from Edom
by sashamika42
Summary: A TMI Alternative Ending... What would have happened if Clary stabbing Sebastian with Heosphoros hadn't killed her evil brother, and his pale hand pulled the sword right out? Written from the perspective of characters during CoHF. This is my first fanfic and I hope you enjoy :)
1. Chapter 1

**These characters belong to wonderful Cassandra Clare,**

 **So this is my first fanfiction, tell me if you thought its worth continuing, I really have no idea where i'm going with this so feedback is welcome! Thank you so much to anyone who had taken the time to read this :)**

 **...**

Clary sat on her throne like a statue made of stone. Her face was stripped bare of expression, hiding the turmoil of emotions under her fiery hair. But she refused to give Sebastian the satisfaction of seeing her weep for the love of her family, and fellow shadowhunters that she had lost. She refused to be a part of his game any more than she had to, as long as she could keep the Nephilim safe, at least most of them. But most of all, she wouldn't let Sebastian see how broken she was, how sitting on this throne was tearing her apart with the knowledge that she could be here forever. She could be his prisoner for all eternity if Heosphoros didn't burn away the darkness in Sebastian's veins.

Clary had barely noticed, but whilst she was lost in thought of the future, Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, Jocelyn, Luke, Simon and Jace had entered the room and looked upon her, sat atop her throne of darkness with confusion and disbelief.

All except Sebastian; who laughed at the expressions stamped onto the faces of the shadowhunters and looked at Clary as if she were a trophy, a prize possession, which was in a way, true.

"She is _mine_ now." Sebastian proclaimed to the world. " _Mine."_

Jocelyn flinched at his words. As if she was struck by an invisible hand slapping her across her face. It took all of Clary's willpower to keep from crying, to keep up her mask and keep from rushing to her mother's arms.

Clary let her eyes glaze over with tears, blurring the room around her. She couldn't bare to look at anyone else, after seeing her mother. Clary didn't know how long she sat like a robot, maybe a few minutes. Her state of delusion was broken however when Clary felt her brother's fingers around her wrist, gently tugging her arm. Sebastian pulled harder and Clary rose to her feet. Her legs wobbling beneath her and for a second, she thought she might topple over.

"Kiss me Clarissa. Like you love me. As soon enough, you will." Sebastian murmured into Clary's ear, his breath hot and full of want. It sent shivers down her spine, Sebastian could probably tell but he didn't show it. His onyx eyes bore into her, making her stomach tighten with dread in anticipation of what could happen next.

Clary replayed the scenario in her head, feeling the bulge of Heosphoros in her weapons belt. She mustered up enough courage to ask Sebastian to put his arms around her, which he did, enclosing her in a prison of darkness. His darkness. His touch sickened her, every second an inch of his skin was pressed on hers was like a vice was slowly squeezing on her heart.

"Hail, master." Clary spat to Sebastian, seeing his eyes widen as she pulled Heosphoros free from her weapons belt and positioned the blade directly over her brothers' heart. Without another moment's hesitation, the red head plunged the sword deep into the ribcage of Sebastian, pushing through until the blade emerged on the other side, having pierced his black heart. For good measure, Clary twisted the sword inside him, hearing the _squelch_ as organs were punctured and basking in the look of astonishment and agony plastered on her brothers face. Sebastian staggered back, obviously surprised by attack.

"You _fool!_ " Sebastian shouted. "There is not a weapon on Earth that can defeat me anymore!"

Sebastian smirked, almost laughing however his eyes were filled with red, hot rage. He gripped the hilt of Heosphoros and pulled out the blade, which was slick with deep red blood. Clary couldn't hold her disappointment, the plan hadn't worked.

Heosphoros clattered to the floor and not a second later, pale hands were wrapped around Clary's throat, lifting her off the floor.

"You belong to _me._ I have given you everything and yet you try to slay me with a sword. A Morgenstern sword. Our family's sword. When will you understand, Little Sister, that you are mine and you will stand by me as we rule this world. Why do you keep fighting? It is futile!"

Clary felt a salty tear run down her cheek as she choked, unable to reply. She had failed, and because of that, her friends probably would be killed. Clary's vision was spotted with black, fear crept into her mind, what if Sebastian did kill her? But she had no reason to want to stay alive. She had lost everything. So she let her body go slack in the air and welcomed the blackness that consumed her, rendering her unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

**These characters belong to Cassandra Clare**

 **Thanks for the views and reviews :) This one is a bit longer than the first chapter, tell me if you want anything else included, the next chapter may be narrated by one of the other characters in the 'A team'. Enjoy :)**

Clary let out a long breath before rolling over in her bed. _She was so tired_. Feeling groggy, she began to sit up slowly in her bed, rubbing her eyes. But as she came around to her senses she realised that this wasn't her bed; it was a huge king size, much bigger than her one at home. Then she realised that she wasn't at home. The events of the previous day began to unfold itself in Clary's mind. The throne, her mother, Jace. _Sebastian._ Even his name induced a wave of shivers down her spine and an intense feeling of nausea.

Over the passing seconds, Clary's vision began to focus, so she hauled one leg over the side of the bed to touch the cool stone floor, then the other leg. With tremendous effort, Clary pushed herself up off the bed and straightened herself upright and began to take in her surroundings.

The room was large, very large. On the whole left side of the room, there was a window that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, giving a view that stretched for miles over the barren land of Edom. _Her land._ Or maybe not any longer considering the incident of Heosphoros…

The rest of the room was adorned with expensive looking dark wood furniture such as an empty desk, a bookcase filled with old moleskin books and a table. On the table was a selection of sandwiches, obviously Sebastian still cared enough about her to give her this room and feed her. It would've been a nice brotherly gesture if Sebastian wasn't the spawn of a demon. The only thing they shared was Morgenstern blood, and even then his was tainted with evil. But as stubborn as Clary was as to not accept anything her brother gave her, she was hungry. A few minutes later, the platter of sandwiches had been reduced in size significantly and Clary's belly was full.

Now more energised, Clary walked over to the bookcase, curious as to what was written on the pages. She took one of the books and flipped to the first page, only to find the title written in Latin. Clary looked over more and more books, but all of them were written in Latin. She silently cursed herself for being more interested in Jace's golden angelic eyes during shadowhunter lessons than the actual lesson.

Thinking of Jace now twisted Clary's heart. She may never see him again. Never gaze into his longing golden eyes or run her hands through his hair.

"Thinking of your angel boy?" came a voice from behind her.

Clary spun around, although she already knew who the voice came from so she wasn't surprised when her eyes spied a tall, pale, muscular boy with white hair.

"How did you know?" Clary questioned.

"It's a bit obvious. You have a love-struck look on your face. It is rather annoying actually."

Sebastian spoke casually. Too casually for a person who had just kidnapped his sister and was holding both of her parents captive, along with her boyfriend, two of her friends and the boyfriend of a friend. He was also holding them all in Edom, a demon realm. Nothing about this situation was _casual_.

"Where is Jace?" said Clary.

"Well, I could tell you that but what would be the point? You're hardly going to get there without me noticing and why do you want to see him anyway? I promise that he and all of your friends are alive, is that not good enough?" Sebastian raised his voice at the end. Obviously he had no idea of love, or what that makes you feel.

For a second Clary almost felt sorry for him. Their father had eradicated all good emotions in Sebastian, leaving only anger, lust and hatred. Kindness and compassion were things that no one had ever shown him, no one had ever cared to love a demon baby, not even Clary's mother. So a monster was what he had become.

"I suppose that you're right." Clary said simply.

Sebastian looked taken aback by her response. He had probably been preparing for his sister to scream at him, argue, something other than agree with him, so Sebastian had nothing to say. He hadn't dealt much with people who didn't either follow his every command or want to kill him whenever they had the chance.

"You won't…hurt them will you Sebastian?" Clary broke the heavy silence.

Sebastian let out a long sigh before responding.

"I think that you already know the answer to your question Clarissa. You agreed to stand beside me if no harm would come to your friends and I will keep up my end of the bargain as long as you keep up yours, so I wouldn't pull another stunt like what happened the other day now if I were you." Although his words were cold, Clary could almost sense him pleading with her to comply with his terms and be his trophy to show off to the world. He wanted her to be obedient to him. She would not.

"How can I trust you? You murdered Max and countless other shadowhunters! You turned Amatis! Why would I ever believe you? You're a murderer- a cold-hearted killer! You put on a skin of a human- someone who could possibly be loved just so no one can see the ugly shell of a person beneath you! Maybe once you had some humanity but your love for violence and pain has stripped you to the monster that you truly are." Clary screamed at him. All of the anger building up inside her had finally been let free. This hatred for Sebastian was the only thing that had been keeping her standing, and without it she felt almost empty, the only things she had left to feel were the loss of her family and a feeling of homesickness.

Sebastian's eyes narrowed at her outburst and he sauntered towards her like a predator. He was so close to Clary that she could feel his hot breath on her cheek as she turned her head to move further away from him. For a moment he just stood there with his dark eyes shooting daggers at Clary. She could almost smell death on him. Like the unpleasant smell that accompanied demons.

"If I am a monster Clarissa," Sebastian broke his sentence to take in a deep breath of Clary's hair. She felt like she would gag, "then what are you? We share the same blood, you and I. We are the same. You do not mourn for those you have lost- you murdered our father and not a single tear has run down your pretty little face."

Clary felt stunned. He had said this to her before, over the past weeks. Trying to convince her that they are one in the same yet this time, when Sebastian spoke so quietly, so _meaningfully_ , she almost believed him.

"And I can show you why you can trust me." Sebastian smiled and extended a hand "If you will let me." Curiosity blossomed in Clary's mind, so without any persuasion, she took hold of her brother's soft hand and followed him to the door.

As he twisted the door handle he turned and smirked at Clary- his prize possession.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again, this chapter is a lot longer, but I thought that to write what I wanted to, it needed to be this length to do it justice. I also have just finished reading the Bane Chronicles so I wanted to get a bit of Magnus in this chapter. Keep reviewing what you want to see next, if you want Clace or Clabastian or for the story to all to be centered more on Clary or your a preferred POV, what I can improve on etc... enjoy :)**

"How are we going to escape?" The question hung in the air like dust. Slowly settling in everyone's minds- it was the obvious question without the obvious answer or perhaps without any answer at all.

Jace, Magnus, Isabelle, Simon, Alec, Jocelyn and Luke were trapped in what Isabelle thought, looked like a dungeon. The circular room was spacious (about as spacious as a prison could be), at about 10m in diameter, giving the captives plenty of room to drown in their hopelessness and sorrow. Black stone bricks made up the walls and there a small skylight at the top, giving the inhabitants enough light at least to see each other in daylight hours. At night, only two small candles had been provided for a light source- how _hospitable_ Sebastian was being; Isabelle thought sarcastically. But he had ordered one of the Dark Shadowhunters to drag the corpse (dead for real now) of Raphael Santiago out of the room. It was a small mercy for Magnus, who had seemed most affected by the vampire's death. It shocked Isabelle even, when Raphael, who looked no more than sixteen, had been stabbed. It was like watching the death of a child, even though Raphael was no longer a child. His death had brought the sore emotions of Max back for Isabelle, who had cried. Not for Raphael, but for her lost brother.

Yet only a day had passed and Magnus already seemed to have passed his grieving stage. Perhaps if you have lived that long and witnessed so much death then you get over these things. Isabelle doubted she could ever do that. When Shadowhunters forged bonds with one another, they were forever, and a loss like that could rip you apart with grief. When Max died, it almost had. Even when the news of her father's unfaithfulness had reached her ears Isabelle had been stunned with shock and sadness. But becoming a Shadowhunter meant that you would experience death- it was bound to happen in battle. You just had to get back up and carry on living.

"We are not going to escape young Herondale. I forgot how insufferably naïve you and your ancestors could be."

Jace scoffed at this statement and glared at Magnus, who just glared back which backfired on Jace, considering that Magnus' cat eyes were a lot more intimidating than his golden ones. They held this stance for a good few seconds. A conversation happening simply by them locking gazes. Jace looked ready to beg Magnus to say that there was a way out of here, however he shortly gave up and started to pace again, running his fingers through his wispy hair over and over, as if it were a calming gesture. It wasn't long until he spoke again.

"We _need_ to get out of here now!" Jace's voice had a pleading tone to it, as if he were begging the empty air to conjure up a piece of paper labelled _'Your Great Escape.'_.

" _Why? Why do you have a dying need to escape?"_ Magnus groaned.

"For a person who has lived for centuries you're not very optimistic are you Magnus. You must've seen hunger, strife, tragedy and war yet the word just keeps spinning doesn't it- because things always resolve in the end. This is why we must figure out a way to get out of this dungeon!" Jace growled at Magnus, a little more harshly than he had realised but at least he got the point across. Jace had never been much of a public speaker- in fact he had never been a public speaker however he felt quite proud of himself for saying this. He had picked up a thing or two about positivity from Clary over the last few months it seemed.

Magnus fell silent, though not in a submissive way, he wasn't going to back down after a shadowhunter yelled at him, no, he looked at Jace with a wicked grin, almost admiring him. Magnus did have a fetish for people who could hold their ground and give outburst like that. Alec however, was not as amused.

"Jace, I know that you fear for Clary but is starting petty arguments with your fellow inmates really going to help your cause?" Alec rolled his eyes, fed up with his _parabatai_ 's company already.

"Inmates Alec? Inmates? Have you accepted us being in this prison already? I really did not think that you would give up so easily." Jace now pointed his anger at a new target.

Alec seemed too drained to reply; instead he just curled up in a ball and closed his eyes, mirroring Jocelyn. Isabelle had thought higher of Jocelyn after their visit to the Iron Sisters, but the older woman had given up all hope, she had a look of utter despair as Luke cradled his fiancée. Isabelle supposed the loss of Clary had hit her hard, but Clary wasn't gone, she was still alive so Isabelle felt more just disappointed in the woman in her inability to cope with such stressful situations. Then again, she hadn't been Shadowhunter for almost two decades now so was not accustomed to these circumstances anymore.

"Well Jace, if you really do want to escape that badly, we are all open to your futile suggestions. Actually, come to think of it, I am not open to your suggestions; I was rather enjoying the peace and quiet before you opened your mouth, and I find myself now craving it."

Isabelle heard an inaudible mutter from Jace in response to Magnus.

"Can you really not use any magic whatsoever?" Jace ignored Magnus's previous statement completely.

"No. I did tell you earlier but not surprisingly, you neglected to listen." The warlock bit back.

"Well, you are a pathetic excuse for a warlock if you can't even use magic." Jace narrowed his eyes. He had this annoying habit of insulting anyone who contradicted him, even if he liked the said person.

"I'll have you know that I can perform spells that could transform you into a giant purple duck," said Magnus.

At the word 'duck' Isabelle saw Jace shiver. It was such an _unusual_ fear. For a few minutes, Jace rambled on about some book he had read about warlock spells but no one in the room was paying attention, until finally Magnus said what everyone else was thinking:

"Please, I beg you young Shadowhunter may you cease the chit-chat for one moment!" then to give Jace some comfort he continued to say "I have been in worse situations than this and still made it out alive- as you can tell." Magnus gestured to his body with his hands. Isabelle thought that Magnus was just being more positive to comfort Jace but she couldn't help but respond to the warlock.

"Worse than being imprisoned by a cynical psychopath that wants to take over the world by using Dark Shadowhunters who also wants to have romantic relations with his sister who is dating your ex-boyfriend's _parabatai_ …Magnus if you have been in worse situations then you have had a more exciting life than I previously thought." Isabelle said under her breath, not meaning for Magnus to hear however judging by the broad smile that crept upon his face, she suspected that he had heard, and rather approved of Isabelle's judgement upon his adventurous life.

"Tut tut Isabelle, 'cynical psychopath'? Is that any way to address the man keeping you alive?" came a cold voice from the doorway. The whole room fell into silence, it seemed only Sebastian's arrival would stop Jace and Magnus from squabbling.

When Isabelle brought her eyes to look at her brothers' killer, she found him smiling at her. Not in the way that Simon would smile at her, or the brotherly way Alec would smile, showing his affection. This smile was one of pure evil. The way the corner of his mouth tugged up upon seeing the state of his prisoners sickened Isabelle. He probably realised that all she was thinking was _Max, Max, Max_. And he was probably savouring the sadness that he had caused the Lightwood family, just like a demon would. Feeding off other people's negative emotions.

Sebastian gazed around the room, almost looking bored, taking in the state of everyone. He glanced over his mother and Luke without any expression, save for the corner of his mouth rising at the pain he had inflicted on his mother by taking her other child. His eyes continued over Jace and Alec who had a look of hunger on their faces, as if they wanted to rip the man apart piece by piece, causing the most pain possible. Sebastian paid no attention because he didn't notice or more likely he just didn't care. Magnus looked at Sebastian with a look of boredom, one which the demon quickly returned. Simon lay still slouched against the wall next to Isabelle. The lack of blood was clearly starting to get to him. All had offered him blood save Luke and Jocelyn, who hadn't spoken a word since they had last seen Clary. He had however refused their offer, saying that he couldn't live off them whilst they were all so weak, starving in this prison. Personally, Isabelle thought he was just being stupid. They may not be at their strongest but they could all fight if they needed to. It was in their blood.

Sebastian looked at the unresponsive vampire and turned his head to the side and formed an expression of fake pity before tossing a water bottle filled with blood towards Simon, whose eyelids fluttered but he didn't take the bottle. He was all too stubborn to accept help from a monster.

"Just trying to save all of your friends from becoming dinner but if they want to become a Nephilim blood bag then you all just carry on." Sebastian smirked.

"Where is Clary?" Jace asked angrily. He stood up as he said it, probably trying to get an advantage on Sebastian, as if he wanted to fight him. Isabelle hoped that he wouldn't be stupid enough to attempt to take on Sebastian however she was becoming increasingly concerned that Jace was about to throw a punch, judging by the look of rage on his normally soft angelic face.

Sebastian smiled that evil grin before extending a hand behind the door, where he had just come.

"Come on in, Dear Sister."

Emerging from behind the door came a fiery red head. She took one look at the room and her hand went flying to her mouth as soon as she spied Simon unconscious. Without a moment's hesitation, she flung herself forward towards Simon, as if she could help him. Falling beside her friend, Clary cradled Simon's head in her arms, stroking his dark hair like one would nurture a child.

Sebastian stared at his sister with a blank face. He seemed neither happy nor sad at how Clary was treating Simon. But Isabelle thought that she saw a glimmer of jealousy in his eyes before Jace threw himself upon Sebastian.

The two brawled with each other, neither with seraph blades or any weapon at all, just bare fists. The silver haired boy, caught off guard by the attack, took a strong punch to the nose. When he whipped his head around to look at the golden boy, his nose looked broken and blood flowed down his face like a waterfall.

Jace wickedly grinned, enjoying inflicting this pain. He dodged a blow from Sebastian but wasn't so lucky when the other boy swung his leg around to sweep Jace off his feet, but agile as a cat he landed gracefully a couple of feet away from Isabelle, his eyes shining from the adrenaline rush of battle.

Due to the turning of events, Alec stood up next to his _parabatai,_ they drew on each other's strength. Sebastian sneered and wiped the blood off his mouth with the back of his hand, and then he sauntered towards the two shadowhunters. Immediately, Sebastian pulled back his foot and kicked Alec squarely in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the stone wall, where he landed with a sickening _crunch_ , before slumping down the wall.

Isabelle screamed her brother's name and rushed to his side, past Clary who was still holding Simon, and knelt by her brother. He was gasping for breath and his face had gone deathly pale.

"Shh shh" Isabelle whispered, stroking Alec's sweating face and gazing into his eyes. _Don't leave me Alec, please don't leave me. I can't lose you, not after Max._ Isabelle silently prayed to no one in particular. She hadn't noticed but Magnus was suddenly beside her whispering " _Alexander"_ again and again in a worried tone.

Jace and Sebastian were still battling, throwing punches and kicks in fast succession. Sebastian brought his hand down on Jace's eye, leaving him momentarily stunned. Sebastian took this opportunity to run over to Clary and haul her off Simon. She barely put up a fight but didn't aid her brother in getting off the ground; she was a dead weight in his arms. Growling, Sebastian lifted her in his arms and took her to the door, where he set her down gently before turning back to the door to face an angry looking werewolf.

Luke snarled at Sebastian and lunged, barking and scratching but he was really no match. The man gripped the werewolf by the throat and whilst holding it in a choke hold, he brought his elbow onto the wolf's skull, knocking him unconscious. He then harshly hurled the wolf back into the prison and slammed the door shut on the carnage.

Taking a deep breath, Clary lifted her gaze to her brother, who looked amused at the events that had just occurred.

"Well Little Sister, I hadn't hurt them before your boyfriend attacked me, so I did keep my word." Sebastian grinned. Clary stared at disbelief at her brother.

"I need to make sure that Alec is okay!" Clary demanded and reached for the door, however unsurprisingly Sebastian stopped her.

"He will be fine, I'll have someone check on him later, but now you know that they are in no…immediate danger, you will stand by me." Sebastian lifted Clary's chin so she looked into his dark eyes.

"Because they will suffer more than that if you try anything…" he leaned in until he was so close to her lips, so close he could've kissed her "…and you wouldn't want any more harm to come to your angel boy now, would you?" He whispered into her mouth, before leading her away from the room where her friends were being held captive. But as Clary walked back down the stairs, away from her friends, she smiled slightly, her plan had worked, and now she had given her friends a weapon.

"Will he survive Magnus?" Isabelle pleaded over Alec's weakening body.

"I don't know, he needs an _iratze,_ many of his bones broke when he fell against the wall."

"But we don't have a stele now do we?" cried Isabelle, still clutching at her brother.

There were a few seconds of silence before Simon spoke from the other end of the room:

"Actually, we do." He held up a stele in his hands, whilst Isabelle, Magnus and Jace stared in astonishment.

"Clary slipped it into my jacket whilst she was sat next to me, she did have a plan after all. Sebastian must not have realised that she had one in her boot when we came to Edom." Explained Simon.

"Well then, we may have a way out of this prison," spoke Jace, a smile spreading across his face.

 **Also, one of the reviewers suggested a new name for the fanfic as 'TMI Alternative Ending' isn't very creative or inventive (and I 100% agree) but I have literally no ideas for a new name... :((( So if anyone could suggest anything that would be great and I'll change the name! Thanks for reading :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**These characters belong to Cassandra Clare**

 **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, just a note, I'm changing the name of this fanfic to 'Escape from Edom' in the next few days. Thought I would just give a heads up in case anyone got confused by the name change. Enjoy :)**

When Clary and Sebastian finally reached her chambers on the other side of the stronghold, Clary was exhausted- no amount of shadowhunter training could ever prepare her to climb and descend that amount of stairs. Sebastian had clearly wanted to keep Clary the furthest possible distance away from her friends, as if she could get to them. But maybe now they could get to her. The stronghold seemed to be a maze of spiral staircases and towers, with bridges opening up into the outside, where demons flew overhead and scavenged the plains of Edom. Clary suspected that her brother had taken the longest route possible to get back, just to confuse her. Well he had succeeded; she had lost her sense of direction after a few turns and stairs and had no choice but to follow Sebastian, or risk being lost forever in the stone castle.

She had been debating for quite some time about whether the stele was more use to her or to her friends. She knew which rune had to be drawn- she had sketched it on a piece of paper that was wrapped around the stele. But she hadn't drawn it herself because Sebastian could have come in and caught her, and then there would be no hope of escape. Another reason of Clary handing over her stele was that she would rather they escape this literal hell than she. There were more of them, so their lives were worth more. The Herondale family would be eradicated if Jace didn't make it out, and Clary doubted either Maryse or Robert could take the death of another child, let alone two. Luke was the leader of the werewolf pack and a council representative so his death would be a great loss. Simon was the Daylighter and her best friend, whilst Magnus had lived for centuries and was the High Warlock of Brooklyn. They wouldn't die because of her. Her mother… well Clary still loved her mother, despite all that they'd been through. They were blood and Jocelyn had protected her daughter's life time and time again. Clary couldn't let her mother die- not if she could help it. She just hoped that if it came down to it, and they did have a chance to escape without her, they would take it and leave her behind.

Her and her brother had just reached her room. Sebastian opened the door and gestured for Clary to enter. She obeyed. They both walked into the room and Sebastian closed the door lightly and locked it. Clary swallowed down the fear of not being able to escape.

"Why didn't stabbing you with Heosphoros work?" Clary asked.

"Your chosen topic of conversation is why your attempted murder of your brother didn't work?" Sebastian smiled, and it looked genuine, "I'm glad you asked actually, as I have given that quite a bit of thought and I think that I know what happened. So you used a fire shaping rune?" Clary nodded. "I think that you trapped the heavenly fire into the sword, it just didn't release when you stabbed me. I don't know if it was because I pulled it out, there wasn't enough heavenly fire, or I'm simply too dark." Sebastian smiled again, but Clary saw right through it. Heavenly fire was his weakness and it could destroy him, she just couldn't use the sword.

So the heavenly fire is still _inside_ the sword. Clary thought. If she could get it out somehow, then she could use it to kill Sebastian, but if the moment to murder him ever did present itself, Clary didn't know if she would have the courage to kill her own brother.

"As you saw, your friends are all alive." Sebastian said smugly, changing the subject.

"Alec didn't look very alive when you pulled me out of the room!" Clary retorted.

She walked over to the bed and sat down. Her mind was racing from the possibility of escape. She hoped that Sebastian wouldn't read it on her face, so she tried to let her hair fall to cover her expression.

This didn't work too well, as seconds later warm hands brushed her cheek and her hair was being pulled away from her face, and her curls instead cascaded down Clary's back. Her brother's hand continued to stroke her red hair, then delicately, her cheek, before finally their faces were mere centimetres apart.

Her brother started to push his face closer to hers, sending shivers down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold draft coming from the window. If he kept doing this Clary was afraid she would vomit. Only Jace should be able to do this. Every moment he touched her made Clary want to scrub her skin raw, until any trace of him was gone from her body.

She lifted her hand to Sebastian's firm and muscular chest and pushed him backwards lightly, just so he wasn't invading her space anymore. Why did he have to keep trying to do this? He was mistaking his sexual desire for love, and it was a big mistake, but then Sebastian had never known love.

"Sebastian…please stop." Clary pleaded.

The predator look vanished from his eyes and was replaced with the look of an innocent boy with a broken heart. It was hard for Clary to keep looking at him. But he wasn't innocent, and his heart no longer existed. Valentine had taken a sledgehammer that organ years ago, as well as goodness and virtue.

The boy held her gaze but didn't respond. He inched ever closer until his lips kissed the salty tears running down her face.

"Why are you crying" He asked, breathing into her ear.

"I don't know." She lied.

"I think that you do Clarissa. Please tell me. I can fix it." He was right. Deep, deep down she did know what troubled her so much.

"Sebastian, I'm crying because only rarely, I see the young boy that you could've been. My brother with the green eyes. My older brother who would have cared for me, looked out for me, driven me to school, taken me to concerts, the brother who would've laughed at jokes, the brother full of _life._ When I see Jonathon it breaks my heart. I don't know how our mother bares it, for I certainly cannot. For moments I think that Jonathon is who you really are, the part of you that is pure and good, but then Sebastian crawls back into your eyes, and I wonder if I can save you from yourself. I thought I could, once. But then you destroy my hopes by your malicious actions. That is why I cry brother, and you can't fix it, for it would destroy you." Clary was out of breath, as sobs wrecked her body at this ugly truth.

Sebastian continued to look into her eyes without expression. She wondered if she had even spoken out loud because he didn't seem to have been listening. Then his expression turned dark and his jaw hardened. Then he slapped her hard across the face. Clary was stunned, of all things she expected him to do, this was not one of them.

"This is who I am Clarissa! Jonathon is gone! Our father made sure that Jonathon never took a breath in this world, he was born and then died, I emerged from his ashes. You will stay here and you will learn to love me or your friends die! I am your brother, can't you do that for me?" He shouted then proceeded to saunter towards Clary and he crashed his lips onto hers. Still stunned, Clary didn't know what to do. She was falling into that black tunnel again. Tumbling and dropping further and further. To a place where there was no right and wrong, just darkness. She was lost. She didn't belong here. All she could feel were his hands roaming her back and his body crushing against hers. A voice nagged at the back of her head, _No!_ But she didn't know what it meant. She didn't even know what she was doing, all she knew was that the blackness was swallowing her up. She enjoyed it. It was easier here, where nothing else mattered but the now. If she could just stay here forever…

The ground beneath their feet shook and brought her to her senses. She opened her eyes and still saw darkness. Not darkness. Eyes; her brother's dark onyx eyes. She tried to pull away but his hands were gripped firmly around her. Instead she brought her knee up to his groin and took a bit too much pleasure in his pain as he doubled over.

Clary took this opportunity to run, but he grabbed for her arm and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. Clary screamed and used her other fist to pound at his arm until her released her and she ran to the door. It was locked. Of course it was locked. She turned around to face her brother who looked like he was about to explode with rage. But then the ground shook again. Rubble started to fall from the ceiling, breaking the floor so that holes appeared around them. A chunk of the stone ceiling came down and hit Sebastian on the back, he was brought down to the ground until he looked like Jace when he was forced to bow to Sebastian only days ago, when everything had gone to hell.

Clary ran to one of the holes in the floor and looked down. Her room was at the top of a tower and she wouldn't survive that fall. Suddenly, stone flung through the glass windows, causing them to smash and glass came flying toward Clary, she ducked and covered her head, but the shards cut deep slashes through her jacket to her skin. Clary felt wet blood flow down her arm, cheek and back.

She quickly rose to her feet and looked down outside the window. She was too high up to jump, the only way down was the locked door.

Running back inside the room, avoiding the falling chunks of stone Clary ran to her brother. He was weak; the rubble had hit him hard. She drew two daggers from his belt. She looked at him and he looked at her. Right now she could push him from the tower and he would fall and die. But she couldn't do it. Killing her own brother whilst he was so defenceless- it was unlike killing her father. He had been in full power, and would've murdered whole populations of Downworlders, and he was pure evil. He wasn't born to be that way, not like Sebastian was, he had chosen his life of crime and murder.

Clary hated her brother but she couldn't do it. She couldn't kill him. Not when Jonathon may still be in there. Killing Sebastian would mean killing Jonathon, and she wouldn't give up on her brother. Not just yet.

"I will save you, Brother. When I can, I will." She said, before running to the door and jamming the dagger into the hinges and bending the door until it was free of the hinges, and glancing back at her brother, who had a look of pleading in his eyes, she ran down the steps of the tower.

Just then she realised that the others must be alive- they had used the rune that she drew for them- the same one that she had used on Valentine's boat. It was going to wreck this dark castle apart, she just hoped that everyone would have escaped before the place would demolish.

But she had no time to dwell on that now, she had to find the others and try to avoid Sebastian's followers.

Clary ran into the closest doorway and just kept running. She sprinted down corridor after corridor, stopping when she came to a junction. Both the left and right corridors looked the same. Clary silently cursed before setting off randomly to the left.

Only to be faced with Amatis. The other girl grinned upon seeing Clary, and drew a long blade from her side.

"Amatis…" Clary started.

"Sebastian said that we needed to return you alive, but not unhurt. So I wouldn't struggle if I were you." She grinned and ran her finger smoothly across the sharp blade, then tested its weight in her grip.

Amatis ran up to Clary, who unsheathed a dagger.

"Not going to come easily then?" Amatis had the dark look of Sebastian in her eyes, the predator look of hunger, of feeding on death and destruction. The other girl brought her fist back, but Clary dodged and tried to keep running away, but Amatis was _fast,_ and grasped the back of Clary's jacket and swung her the other way, and she tumbled to the floor, twisting and turning. When she landed on her back, searing pain exploded down her spine. There was still a piece of glass in her back, the adrenaline rush had preventing her from feeling the pain, but now it had dug deeper into her flesh. Clary let out a strangled cry.

Amatis stood several metres away, bathing in the sound of Clary's pain. She rose slowly to her feet, the pain was unbearable, she feared that she would faint, but she wouldn't get another opportunity of escape, perhaps ever if she were captured. So Clary raised her dagger and let it fly. She didn't miss. It embedded itself into Amatis' chest. The woman stopped laughing and looked down and removed the dagger, as blood pooled onto her dark clothing, you could barely see it. Clary rushed to her aunt and caught her before she hit the floor. Clary started to cry again. She had killed Luke's sister. The girl looked up to Clary. She half expected to see Amatis again- the caring woman who had taken her in. But instead the look of the Endarkened looked up at her.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry Amatis. I will avenge your death, I swear it." Clary sobbed harder and harder. She had now killed two members of her own family. Amatis started to choke on her own blood now pooling in her lungs, before she went still and limp in Clary's arms.

If it weren't for the stone falling from the ceiling, Clary doubted she would ever have moved. But she had to- to see Jace, Simon, her Mother, Luke, Alec, Isabelle and Magnus. She would keep going for them. So Clary stood, and over Amatis' dead body, she said " _Ave Atque Vale_ " and left.

It felt like she had been running for hours and Clary was gasping for air and starting to slow down, she couldn't run for much longer and the pain in her back was making her vision spot with balck, she would pass out soon. Finally there was door at the end of the corridor, Clary burst through it and tumbled outside.

It was light outside and the sun blinded her. Clary put one foot in front of the other and tried to walk away from the castle but her feet gave up and she was soon on the floor again.

"Jace," she whispered, but it was no use. She couldn't hear another person; there was only the sound of the demolishing stronghold. All she thought and wished was that the others had made it out alive. This couldn't all be for nothing. As Clary closed her eyes, she heard a faint voice.

"Clary!"

But she couldn't be sure. It could all be her imagination. But the voice did sound familiar.

"Jace?" she croaked.

"It's me, Clary. You're safe now." Warm arms wrapped around her and Clary took great joy by looking into her boyfriend's golden eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

**These characters belong to Cassandra Clare.**

 **Sorry that it's been a while but I will probably only be able to upload once a week max because I'm back at school :( I'll try to get chapters out soon but they may be a bit shorter in length. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed :)**

"I thought you said that this rune would be subtle!" Simon screeched at Jace. Ever since they had planned their escape, Simon had got up, and seemed a lot better. He had drank blood that Sebastian's guard had left for him- thanks to Clary's sacrifice they were being kept alive- not with much care- but they were still alive.

The Endarkened had come in a few minutes after Sebastian and Clary had left, and after a moment of looking to see if Alec was still alive, they had left without a word. Jace had then immediately draw an iratze on his parabatai, whilst Magnus stood watching, constantly tensed, fearing for Alec's life. Isabelle suspected that Magnus wasn't over Alec; he couldn't be.

Jace had just finished drawing the rune that Clary had drawn on a piece of paper on the door. It was a swirling pattern, like a wave rolling on the beach, it was a half-formed circle with little lines like splashes of water formed a circle around the main shape. As Jace finished, the rune started to glow a bright blue.

"Well… I assumed that Clary would get us to draw an unlocking rune or something, but obviously she has other plans," Jace responded. Still glowing, the rune started to crack the door apart, splinters of wood exploding everywhere and showering the shadowhunters.

But it hadn't stopped there. The rune had spread to the walls and started tearing down the structure of the prison. Rock and stone flew everywhere and as Isabelle stared, Jace was pulling Alec up from the floor and hurrying them all out of the room before the ceiling caved in on their fragile little heads. Isabelle doubted even the strong bones of shadowhunters could survive a brick colliding with their skull, so she ran out of the room, trailing behind Jocelyn and Luke.

They had all just made it out when the floor of the prison fell in, revealing a very high drop. They were in a tower. Isabelle took position at the rear of the group as they all ran down a spiral staircase, steps crumbling behind them as they sprinted for their lives.

"We're at a junction!" Jace called from the bottom of the stairs. "Which way should we go?"

Isabelle had just reached the bottom of the damp, dark stairs and she joined the rest of the group at the junction. Both hallways looked dark and eerie, there was no sound, save for their hushed, panting breaths that seemed to echo off the stone walls. They all stood there for a few seconds, lost in thought until Magnus finally spoke:

"Since no one else seems to be able to say it I shall, I we ever hope to get out of here we are going to have to split up."

"Ok," Alec's shadowhunter instincts broke into action, "Well, if Luke, Jocelyn and…" Isabelle heard his brief hesitation. One of the more experienced shadowhunters would have to go with them. Simon wouldn't be much help if they ran into a demon or worse, an Endarkened; so they couldn't put him with Jocelyn and Luke, they could all be slaughtered without the protection of Isabelle, Jace or Alec. But then Alec wanted to be there to protect and fight with his sister, lover and parabatai. Isabelle wouldn't let her brother make that choice.

"I'll go with Jocelyn and Luke taking the left passage, you, Jace, Magnus and Simon should take the right." Isabelle had a tone to her voice that showed her decision was final, but not a moment after she spoke Simon piped up from the back:

"I'm going with you Izzy." He seemed even fiercer than she did, and moved to her side on the left side of the junction without hesitation. Isabelle wasn't in the mood to argue and she also was glad for Simon's company. She felt safer with him, she felt like he would always protect her, which was stupid considering she was the one with the skills to protect him- although she sought comfort in him. She wasn't used to these emotions; she hardly knew what they meant, but Isabelle wasn't about to argue with his choice.

"It's settled then, I guess that we'll see you if we all escape." Alec said. The _if_ hovered in the air, they may not make it out alive, but they would try, and if they died they would die trying.

"But we need to look for Clary!" Jace proclaimed. He looked distraught just thinking about her. Isabelle felt bad that they had almost forgotten that she was the reason that they were escaping. Isabelle looked around at everyone's troubled faces.

"Well we don't know where she is, not even a rough idea, so I suggest that we just keep running until we find Clary and save her, we find the exit and escape or we find Sebastian and kill him." Isabelle said sternly. They all knew that they couldn't kill Sebastian but it felt better to say what everyone wanted so desperately. The others nodded in agreement, and then everyone set off down the hallways, Alec giving Isabelle a final concerned look before heading down the opposite corridor.

Luke and Jocelyn jogged side by side, Jocelyn's red hair flying behind her like a wave of fire. She and Clary looked so alike, Clary took after her mother completely. Barely any of her features were her fathers. Isabelle went to unsheathe her dagger when she realised that her seraph blades had been taken away from her and that they were all completely unarmed, if a demon were to attack them right now, they would likely be ripped to shreds.

"Did you hear that?" Jocelyn had stopped further up the hallway and Luke had taken on a defensive stance. Isabelle and Simon slowed down and listened. She heard it too, and she assumed that Simon did with his vampire hearing. There it was again: a distant cawing sound, but getting closer. Isabelle saw the vampire's eyes widen.

"Demons," he whispered. They joined Jocelyn and Luke and stood staring towards the end of the corridor, just before it turned to the right. The sound was coming from round the bend. Isabelle then felt something that she hadn't felt for a long, long time- fear. She was unarmed- they were all unarmed. If multiple demons took them on there was a simple truth to the outcome of the situation- they would all die. The demons would bite into their flesh and their ichor would burn and sizzle their skin and flesh. They would die a gruesome yet honourable Shadowhunter's death. But Isabelle didn't want to die, so she undid her belt and held it like she would her silver whip. Simon drew out his fangs, Luke readied his fists and Jocelyn took on a fighting stance.

When the first demon came around the corner, they were ready. It was a thin and spindly black thing- ugly with big welts hanging from its body, they looked full of ichor and ready to burst, whereupon it would burn skin, which only an iratze could heal, but Jace had the stele.

It charged towards them, making that cawing sound as it pounced on Luke, who tumbled and rolled with it, clawing with his wolf paws and kicking with his human feet. Jocelyn was grappling with it, trying to lock her hands around its neck to decapitate it.

Simon and Isabelle watched in horror as more and more of these demons appeared. There were too many to fight now, they would have to run.

"Jocelyn! Luke! We have to go now!" Isabelle screamed and Jocelyn's head shot up and she pulled Luke away from the cawing demon and they ran. Isabelle ran and ran and ran, her hand firmly gripped on Simon's grey gaming t-shirt. She was gripping the fabric so hard in her fist, her knuckles were going white but she would _not let him go_. They continued running back the way they came but turned different directions to those they had gone down before. Isabelle had no idea where she was running, just that she needed to get her and Simon away from the demons.

Finally, when her chest was on fire and her lungs were burning Isabelle finally stopped and caught her breath. They had lost the demons, but they had also lost Jocelyn and Luke. She just hoped that they were alright and had lost the demons as well.

Isabelle was hunched over and gasping for breath, but when she looked over at Simon he looked perfectly normal, but he didn't need to take in any air, he was a vampire.

"Where do we go now?" Isabelle said in between breaths.

"I suppose that we ought to just keep going until we get out." Simon said, not taking his eyes off of Isabelle. He had that caring and affectionate way about him that Isabelle just loved.

"Then let's do it." Isabelle replied. They held each other's gazes until Simon whipped his head and looked to the left at the sound of footsteps.

Out of the corner of her eye Isabelle saw a faint shape coming towards them. When she looked fully, what she saw was a girl, about her age with long blonde hair and pale skin.

"Please…can you help me?" The girl whimpered.

 **Hi, I would really appreciate if you reviewed on what you want to see and what I do well/ could improve on. Thank you for reading :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry it's been a while and this isn't the best chapter, but please keep reviewing, I love the feedback :)**

"Please… can you help me?" The girl whimpered.

Simon snuck a glance over to Isabelle. Her raven black hair had started coming out of her tight, pulled back ponytail and it swept over her face, concealing most of her features however Simon spotted her dark lashes look his way. He couldn't quite tell her expression, there were multiple ways that they could approach this situation- who was this girl? They had not seen another soul in this whole stronghold that wasn't one of Sebastian's followers, their friends, or a demon. But then Simon doubted that a demon counted as a soul.

For some reason, his thoughts floated back to his mother when he thought about souls. His fractured soul. Whether she would ever accept his new self- his self that was less… _human_. His walking carcass with no sound, he was silent, he had no heartbeat. He could never forget the way that she looked at him when he pronounced his vampirism. The look of horror and disbelief on her face, before she fell to the floor and cried and prayer to their god. How Simon had ran from her house; the house that he had grown up in. the house that him and Clary had played in, where they had dressed up as children, wasted afternoon and afternoon reading comics. But he may never step foot in that building again in his immortal life.

"Simon!" He stepped out of his thoughts to look back at Isabelle, who stared back at him with dark brown eyes and gestured toward the girl. Simon took his eyes off the shadowhunter to look at the girl. What was she? She could be a demon, Endarkened, human, downworlder, shadowhunter? Simon doubted the latter however, as she was wearing only a slim black dress which had only straps at the top, revealing her long, slender arms. If she were a shadowhunter, wouldn't her limbs be adorned with dark, visible runes? Instead she looked strangely naked, like she was exposed in some way, like she was raw and had a different skin.

"What are you?" Isabelle questioned harshly. It was odd how Isabelle could just flick a switch and turn into a different person. One minute she was the kind, caring and compassionate Izzy- the side she showed to Simon but then as soon as the situation called for it she would turn into a badass whip wielding shadowhunter that was straight from one of Simon's comics. However Simon loved both of them.

"Please help me," the girl whispered, stepping closer towards Simon and Isabelle. At that time a lump of stone came crashing down from the ceiling and narrowly missed Isabelle's head.

"Come on Izzy we need to go!" Simon shouted. At that Isabelle's pendant began to glow bright, like a beating heart upon her collarbone. Distant sounds of demons approaching echoed down the halls, striking fear into Simon. He didn't want to face another one of those things. They could've killed Jocelyn and Luke and they wouldn't even know. They could kill Izzy.

With that thought fuelling his actions, Simon grabbed Isabelle's hand and ran, the girl following almost soundlessly behind them.

…...

Soon after Jace had headed off with Alec and Magnus, they reached the outside quickly without running into another person. Jace and Alec were barely out of breath, however the warlock seemed to be struggling as they stepped outside into the blinding sunlight. Jace felt the warm sunrays on his skin and he savoured the moment- he loved the light. Being kept in the dungeon had deprived him of this. He felt warmth all over his body and it reminded him of when the heavenly fire had run through his veins. The heat that was constantly in his blood, intensifying everything around him.

But he could not think about that now- he needed to find Clary.

"Jace, is there anything we could use to track her?" Alec asked, reading his thoughts as he always had done before.

Jace whipped out the stele from his boot pocket and placed it in his hand, trying to track where Clary was.

For a few seconds, his mind was blank; she wasn't there, until finally he felt her presence. Like a tiny flame in a dark room.

"Come on, she's round this way," Jace explained before he set off at a sprint round the outskirts of the stronghold, not waiting to see if Alec and Magnus were following.

Eventually he found her laying on her back on the ground, she looked unconscious so Jace ran to her, but was relieved when her shallow breaths came out onto his neck as he cradled her gently in his arms.

"It's ok Clary," he whispered in her ear, trying to reassure her. "What…what you did was brilliant Clary." Jace said, and looked into her eyes.

Clary smiled faintly back at him. His golden hair was in wisps around his angular face and they shone golden in the sunlight. He was like an angel.

"Jace… where's my mum and Luke?" Clary said, still holding his gaze however Jace felt a feeling of dread because of what he would have to explain to her.

"We…we split up. Me, Alec and Magnus must've got first, I haven't seen them since we spilt…" Jace said as Clary's eyes widened and he felt guilty for leaving them, they should've stuck together, what had they been thinking?

"Clary, they are going to be ok, Izzy and Simon are with them, I'll find them soon, I promise."

Clary calmed down a bit at that, and relaxed into Jace a bit more, before he helped her up and they slowly walked back over to Alec and Magnus.

The dirt and stone crunched under their feet as they made their way back over. Clary had caught her breath and was more like her usual self, strong-headed and determined.

"Well, just look at how touching this reunion is, however may I suggest that we go somewhere else instead of standing here out in the open," Magnus said, breaking the silence.

He was right, they were out in the open, if a demon dropped from the sky and attacked them, the odds wouldn't be in their favour.

"We can't do anything about the others now, so let's get away from Sebastian and find somewhere to camp." Alec said practically.

So they turned around from the still crumbling stronghold and ventured back out into the wide expanse of Edom.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm so sorry it's been a while so here's a longer chapter :) Please please leave reviews- I really appreciate your feedback, tell me what you want to happen or any ideas, this story is as much yours as is it mine.**

It was dark outside. The barren landscape had been covered in a black blanket that left it impossibly shadowy. It was odd how bright Edom was in the day; when the sun burnt bright and lit the land up with light like the fires of hell. Then night would roll over and like a candle was being blown out by the wind, everything turned dark. When Clary looked up at the night sky, there were no stars, nothing was watching down on them. When she had been in Brooklyn, the pollution had prevented her from looking at the stars, they were only faint white specks but when Clary and her mother had gone to Luke's farm for the first time, Clary remember gazing up at the night sky in awe. But there was no feeling this now.

Isabelle and Simon had found them somehow. They had come out of a different exit near to where Jace and Alec were carrying Clary away from the castle. Jocelyn and Luke were still nowhere to be seen.

The cave that they'd taken refuge in was more of a network of tunnels than a cave. They had laid down to rest just by the entrance with one person on watch, but when Clary sat up from leaning on Jace, she could see the wide alert eyes of everyone around her. She saw Alec crouched beside the dismal fire that emitted about as much light as a firefly. But still she could see the outline of his face and features. Magnus' cat eyes gleamed in the faint firelight, but he didn't notice Clary staring, so she eventually settled back onto Jace's chest, listening to his calm, relaxing breathing. Feeling the slow rise and fall of his chest. Surprisingly, Clary felt serene, they may be in Edom but she felt drained, yet she didn't want to sleep. She just wanted everything that had happened to go away, just disappear into thin air. They hadn't yet failed their mission, Raphael was dead, but they could still find Jocelyn, Luke, Simon and Isabelle, and then maybe escape this place.

Clary didn't know how she felt about her brother. Under the circumstances, she should loath him, want him dead. He's responsible for so many deaths, but Clary couldn't make sense of the turmoil of emotions going on inside her. Most of her hated him. He'd killed Max, he'd taken Jace away from her, he was responsible for the deaths of countless people and he wanted to _marry his sister!_ But then there was some small part of her that wasn't sure if she could kill him if given the chance again. It was the sight of him seeming so human, _so normal_. Like the brother she always had wanted as a child.

She couldn't make sense of who was Sebastian-the murdering psychopath-and who was Jonathon- her real brother. They were the same person, yet Clary couldn't shake the feeling that her brother was in there somewhere. Trapped within the body of Sebastian.

"What are you thinking about?" Jace whispered in her ear.

"About Sebastian, and-"

"Don't think about him." Jace cut her off as soon as she had said her brother's name. "He doesn't deserve a second of you worrying about him."

"But we _need_ to worry about him." Clary protested. "He's already killed so many, and we are the only ones at the moment who have even the slightest chance to stop him! Even then he may be undefeatable."

"We will find a way! I am not leaving Edom until he can never hurt anyone again." Jace said.

"I think that you are looking at living the rest of your life in Edom then," Magnus chipped in.

Clary looked over at the warlock with a scowl. Magnus didn't seem to understand the difference between right and wrong moments to joke. But Clary still felt that it lightened the atmosphere, ever so slightly. She could see why Alec loved him. She pondered if they would get back together, or if they would even live long enough to make that decision.

"But how are we going to do that? The heavenly fire is in the sword and Sebastian had Heosphoros. That was the only thing we thought could kill him, but maybe he was just too powerful, or we didn't have enough heavenly fire…" The group was silent. The outlook on their situation was looking grimmer and grimmer by every second.

Clary suddenly felt a claw of anger slowly ripping at her from within. She hated Sebastian in that moment. Hated him with all her shadowhunter heart. He had killed her people, he had taken Jace from her, he had Turned dozens of shadowhunters. Clary cursed herself over and over again. _Why couldn't they find a way to kill her bastard brother?_

"If we could get the sword back… could we extract the heavenly fire from it and use that to kill him?" came a weak, shallow voice from the shadows. The girl had barely spoken since she had followed Simon and Izzy from the stronghold. They had all been so surprised at her arrival, that even Alec, had not done a full scale shadowhunter interrogation. Clary had simply drawn a rune on the floor, trapping the girl to a spacious area on the other side of the cave. She was in sight, but couldn't hurt anyone.

She had the innocent look of a child in her face; round cheeks and smooth skin, like she had somehow avoided the terrors of Sebastian, however she hadn't. That much they had worked out from her silence, and although her facial shape looked young, her eyes had that wary look about them. They had darkness in them, like they had witnessed great torment and pain, probably even endured it. They were the only coloured thing about this girl, her skin was ivory white and her hair was jet black, but her eyes were hazel. Not quite golden, not like Jace but they still looked a little yellow and brown, with flecks of green, reminding Clary of the vibrant trees surrounding Luke's farm.

Clary had been staring at the girl, once again taking in her features, expecting some compass to point north or south, determining if they could trust this girl. But even shadowhunter instincts couldn't deem the true nature of a person. She had given the team no reason to not trust her, but she was still a stranger, and given their current situation, they couldn't let their ultimate downfall be the result of mistrust. They were shadowhunters- a warrior race- if they were finally to bite the dust, they would die in battle. An honourable, yet painful, death.

But then there it was- a reason to distrust her.

"How do you know about the heavenly fire?" Alec had stood to attention and bore over the girl. She caved in on herself, hugging her legs close to her chest and rocking ever so slightly back and forth. "How do _you know?_ " Alec asked again, staring at her defenceless posture. She looked a mess, a fragile doll ready to be destroyed.

"I… there was talk…down there." Her voice was a hushed whisper; Clary had to strain to understand the words. A few seconds of silence passed between them, everyone a little surprised that she had spoken to Alec, when he looked so menacingly at her. Then the girl looked directly into Clary, the emotion and thoughts displayed were in chaos. None of them however, looked like that fragile thing, she no longer looked the rabbit hunted by a fox, instead an apex predator, a wolf. Clary felt slightly scared, but then also a connection, Clary saw herself in the girl- someone who had started at the bottom, everyone was above them, however a great power lurked within both of them. Clary had her power of runes, this girl, there was something strong in this girl.

Clary saw it clearly, behind all the trauma in this girl, there was a great and powerful beauty. But somehow, Clary didn't think it was bad or evil, not like the potent malevolent aurora that encircled Sebastian. In this girl, Clary saw something not unlike her own gift, something that could be trusted, hopefully.

"Stop Alec," Clary rose to her feet, taking her head away from Jace. The girl stopped her rocking and used a slim finger to part the hair that had fallen down over her face. She tucked the knotted hair swiftly behind her ear, so her face was wholly visible to Clary. _So young_. Clary thought again.

"What is your name?" Clary asked, then immediately regretted it. She was trying to be kind, yes, but she probably seemed stupid to the shadowhunters. They were used to interrogating people and demons, they dealt with things like this but Clary had just taken control, she didn't even quite know why.

Confusion crossed her face, before she spoke louder than before, with a bit more confidence:

"Blair."

"Are you from here?"

"No."

"Do you know where you are from?"

"Yes."

"And that is…"

"Where Sebastian is from."

"So the human realm?"

"Yes."

"That's where we're from as well, now can you tell me how you know about the heavenly fire?" Clary felt as if she had just done one of those lightning round interviews, but at least they had some answers from the girl, although Blair looked annoyed, probably because Clary had spoken to her like a child.

"I'm 15, if you were wondering." She spoke again. Clary then felt more stupid, there were probably better ways to go about questioning the girl, but she didn't want to expose Blair to Alec's wrath as he was in a particularly bad mood; but being trapped in a realm of hell with your ex would probably do that to anyone.

"I know about the heavenly fire because… they spoke about it…" Blair started to stutter, and she adopted a vacant look about her, like she was reliving a terrible past experience.

"Who talked about it?" asked Jace.

"Down there…" She sounded terrified now.

"Where's there?" asked Alec. Clary silently cursed Alec for being so unemotional towards Blair. She was obviously struggling to talk about these things but he hadn't seemed to notice, or he did but just didn't care. Clary didn't know what had happened to her… no. what Sebastian had _done to her._ Clary felt so angry, so ashamed that she hadn't saved Blair from this sooner, so many opportunities to try and kill Sebastian, yet they had failed.

"Under the castle, where Sebastian would keep us all- those who he took. Those like me."

"And what are you?" Alec asked.

"I am nothing special, I only have the sight, but it was people like me that he wanted to experiment with…"

Clary felt horror in the pit of her stomach. She felt disgusted that Sebastian had taken the dark route like their father. A path of pain and suffering for those around them. Valentine had done dreadful things to aid his cause: he had fed blood to a pregnant woman, summoned demons, trapped an angel.

But Clary knew that Sebastian was worse.

Whatever sins Valentine committed, Sebastian would do 10 times worse because whilst her father chose to do bad things, Sebastian was born to do bad things. He lived for it, he thrived on it. He would drink in others pain. He already had.

"What did he do?" Clary asked in the friendliest way possible. She didn't want this girl to think any longer about what she had endured, so if she said it now they could try and help her.

"He… he came in the night to the Moscow institute. I am not a shadowhunter so I do not go there often, just sometimes to visit friends. I only have the Sight. It was dark, I was just approaching the gates when I sensed that something was not quite right. It was quiet when I knocked on the doors, expecting familiar faces to appear but… instead a man of pale skin and ivory hair grinned at me as if I were an ant to be crushed. I was terrified, I was about to scream when everything went dark.

"When I woke up, I could barely see a thing. There was just this overwhelmingly horrid scent in the air. I sat there for what felt like hours as I tried to adjust to the darkness. Eventually I could make out shapes. They were bodies. Human bodies. For a second I thought that they were all dead, it was deadly silent in the room but I some were alive-we were all just too scared to say anything, we just kept to ourselves. The smell was rotting flesh, it wasn't just that though, it smelt of garbage, like demons.

"Maybe the next day, when my throat was sore from no water, he came. Him and some of his followers dragged our lifeless bodies from the room to somewhere else. He… he was using demon ichor among other things, I didn't know most of them but I watched girls no more than 18 years old be injected with the blood. I watched them start to shake, before they screamed. It was horrible, listening to their pain. They would writhe on the floor, screaming and shouting for help but there was nothing we could do. I had to stand and watch her breathing slow down, then stop. I watched as their veins turned black and their hair went grey and dull, as their corpses decomposed in minutes.

"Whatever he was doing, it wasn't working. He was killing us like flies. He kept trying new things, I'm still not sure what he hoped to do, to create." Blair finished.

Everyone just stared in shock, wanting to show some sign of sympathy however didn't know how to express it.

"How did you get away?" Clary asked hesitantly.

"The walls started to collapse, I ran. I just ran and didn't stop until I saw you," she indicated with her head to Simon and Isabelle who were sat by the wall, huddled next to each other, listening intently to Blair's explanation.

After that, no one had another question. Even Alec seemed satisfied enough that she wasn't an immediate threat, but they had still hadn't released Blair from the rune shield that surrounded her.

Clary felt even more exhausted. They needed to stop her brother. She vowed to not leave Edom until they had disposed of him. The person who had don't this to Blair- that person was not Jonathon. Her brother was gone- he may have been there once, he may occasionally show himself but these were unforgiveable actions. Clary could not stand by and allow him to take over this place and continue these experiments.

But for that she needed rest; so she closed her drooping eyelids and allowed sleep to envelope her, shielding her from this horrible world. However the nightmares that haunted her sleep were worse than real life. Clary dreamed of demons and her wicked brother. Her, sat on a throne of bones, watching her friends be slaughtered before her eyes whilst the amused laughter of Sebastian filled her ears.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Sorry its been a while, please keep reviewing! I might occasionally have a dream sequence in between a few ordinary chapters- did you like it or was it a bit confusing? Thanks for reading :)_** ****

 _There was a verdant green field bordering the white walls of the Morgenstern house. It was a large house- after all the Morgenstern's were one of the wealthier, more respected shadowhunter families. With their name brought glory and pride of the legendary Valentine and Jocelyn Morgenstern. They were two of the fiercest Nephilim ever to walk the streets of Alicante. Clary always looked up to her parents and her brother, Jonathon._

 _Clary looked down at her smooth palms and frowned. She couldn't wait to start training at the shadowhunter academy and earn her scars, feel her fingers and instead of them being soft and even, they would be calloused with thin white scars decorating them- the marks of a warrior._

 _Jonathon had started training a couple of years ago, he had since grown stronger, he was agile and quick thinking, he could even draw most runes in the grey book. At this moment, he smiled down at his little sister. He always had that sweet, loving smile plastered onto his face, Clary thought._

 _"_ _Why are you looking at your hands little sister?" Jonathon asked, concerned._

 _"_ _I want to be like you!" Clary jumped up and swung her arms around his neck, gripping to her brother who then proceeded to topple over onto his back, Clary falling on top of him._

 _The two siblings burst out laughing and Clary rolled over to sit next to her brother. They were both lying on the field by their house, staring to the sky laughing. Clary loved her brother's laugh, it was that which usually made her laugh instead of the actual joke he would laugh at. His green eyes sparkled under the sun like the jade waters surrounding Hawaii where they had once visited on a family holiday._

 _"_ _I am a pretty good shadowhunter, aren't I?" Jonathon joked._

 _"_ _The best." Clary assured him._

 _"_ _Come on then petal, let's go inside. It's starting to get chilly outside." As if to emphasise his point, Jonathon rubbed at his arms as the wind picked up._

 _Clary grabbed her brother's hand and they walked to the door slowly, Jonathon recounting his experiences at the shadowhunter academy that day._

 _"_ _So then you jumped from the ceiling panel?" Clary gasped in amazement._

 _"_ _Right on top of the training dummy, then I drove my seraph blade into its chest!" Jonathon acted out this scene rather well, holding an imaginary sword and pretending to stab Clary with it. She simply giggled and smiled, in awe of what she would get to do in a couple of years._

 _"_ _Jonathon I hope that you aren't scaring your sister," spoke a voice from the now open doorway to the Morgenstern house. The man was tall; his skin a map of scars and dark hair flopped over his head. He spoke humorously, his lips curving slightly at the corners, attempting not to smile and maintain his serious expression. This man had taught Clary to walk and talk, later he had shown her how to hold a seraph blade so she would be ahead of her peers when she started at the shadowhunter academy. This man was Valentine Morgenstern._

 _"_ _Not at all, just showing her some tricks of the trade." Jonathon replied with a cheeky grin that lightened his face._

 _"_ _Very well Son, but if you want to teach your sister something useful," Valentine smiled as Clary looked up at him eagerly, "then you shouldn't be going for the heart of a demon if you can help it, go for a decapitation- if you can." A challenge glinted in his eyes, 'if you can'. Jonathon lunged for his father's neck but he dodged easily and they kept at it. After each round, Valentine looked more and more amused however rage was slowly starting to build in Jonathon._

 _Jocelyn stepped out of the door, her red curls tumbling down her shoulders to her waist. She rolled her eyes at the sight of her husband and son brawling in the grass, Clary was just sniggering._

 _"_ _Boys!" she shouted. The two men straightened themselves and Jonathon brushed away some mud on his knees that he had acquired during their friendly scrap._

 _Jocelyn just spread her mouth wide at the sight of the two- they looked so scruffy and Jonathon was like a mini-me of his father. She then looked round at Clary and extended her hand towards her daughter._

 _"_ _Let's go inside Clary." She said._

 _Clary reached out to grasp her mother's hand but she couldn't reach it. Her feet were stuck in the mud, but it wasn't mud, it was a black gooey substance that reeked of garbage. Then suddenly Clary was looking more at eye level with her mother. She looked down to see fully grown adult hands, and she was wearing shadowhunter fighting gear. Her arms were adorned with the markings of runes._

 _Then when Clary looked to her mother, Jocelyn began to scream. Her mother brought up her hands to her hair and started yanking at the beautiful curls. Clary watched, helpless, as her mother cried, but her tears were blood, and she started to cough up red. Jocelyn keeled over and Clary watched as blood poured from her ears, eyes, nose and mouth and eventually after what felt like hours, she stopped moving._

 _Clary brought her hand to her mouth and turned away from her mother, unable to bear the sight of looking at her corpse. But on her other side were dark mountains and before her was a lake of fire. Embers spat at her and then her feet were free, no longer trapped in the mud. The lake then started flowing toward Clary, bubbling like lava. Clary turned and ran the other way, trying to escape the cascading lava._

 _She kept running, the whole way feeling the intense heat of it scalding her back. The burning sensation was almost unbearable, but she pushed through the pain and kept running._

 _Then she wasn't hitting the floor, her feet were moving uselessly in thin air and she was flying above the lava and strong hands wrapped around her stomach and her back was up against a hard, cool chest._

 _Clary dared to turn her head and look at her rescuer, only to find dark onyx eyes bearing into her. Sebastian's eyes. They weren't the innocent green of country fields- they weren't Jonathon's eyes. They were dark pits of evil, which had witnessed so much death and suffering._

 _However what amazed her more was the dark wings sprouting from his back. They looked beautiful. Dark raven feathers arranged themselves in neat rows, not a feather out of place. They were striking and Clary felt a small urge to reach out and touch them, but they were the wings of a fallen angel, they were the wings of her brother and she refused to find any beauty in them, in someone so dark._

 _Clary tried to scream but no noise came out. She struggled against his iron grip but to no avail. He was too strong._

 _They flew over the lava to an island amongst this sea of magma. Sebastian lowered them slightly so they were just above the island, and Clary gasped when her eyes found blonde hair. It was Jace._

 _He was covered in dirt, but his golden eyes shone brighter than Clary had ever seen them before, they seemed to glow as he whipped his head to look back at Clary. But then Clary saw his wings. Sebastian's wings radiated dark but his burned yellow, burnt as bright as the lava and fire surrounding them. But he was in chains. Jace was tethered to the ground and could not break free and fly. Clary had only ever seen the angel Ithurial before, but he was injured and weak. Seeing a heavenly creature that shone brightly like Jace bound to the ground was a harrowing sight, even more so because it was Jace. Her Jace._

 _"_ _Release him!" Clary cried to her brother, but her words were barely audible over the sounds of his giant membranes flapping. He seemed to hear nonetheless._

 _"_ _No." He said with a smirk and pointed to one of his followers stood next to Jace._

 _The man was broad shouldered and grinned toward his master before unsheathing Heosphoros from his weapons belt. Clary somehow knew what he was about to do before he positioned the weapon above Jace's wings._

 _Jace cried out in pain- it was nothing like Clary had ever heard before, it was horrible to hear, it was a ragged melody of grief and loss and agony. The man sawed back and forth, dismembering the wings from Jace's back. Blood poured from the wound like a fountain, staining his back a deep red._

 _Clary cried for Sebastian to stop, to end the suffering but he laughed and after what felt like hours, Sebastian landed Clary next to her boyfriend._

 _"_ _A warning Clarissa. A warning for what happens to those who oppose me. Who oppose us." Sebastian whispered into her ear, holding the hacked dead wings before Jace, who had an expression of horror in his eyes that Clary couldn't bear to see._

 _It was a gift. A gift to Clary, a show of his strength, he had brought down an angel just to scare her into submission. It had worked- Clary collapsed to the floor in a sobbing heap before her brother. Sebastian knelt down and pulled her chin upwards so their eyes met._

 _"_ _We can rule this world together little sister. Come and find me, and maybe I will spare your angel boy."_

Clary woke abruptly and had just enough time to rush to the other side of the cave before she vomited up whatever she had last eaten. She couldn't even remember when she last ate. Thinking about food just brought another wave of nausea that had her stomach heave again.

Warm hands grasped her fiery curls and held them back as she heaved one last time. Clary turned around and looked to her boyfriend. No words needed to be spoken between them, he was here for her. He would listen if she wanted to speak, but she didn't want to. She just wanted to be in his arms, know that he was alive and Sebastian didn't have him, couldn't hurt him. She didn't even want to think about what Sebastian had said- was it her imagination? Or him playing tricks? Clary just tried to silence her sobbing as Jace cradled her in his arms.

Neither noticed a pair of dark eyes spying them from across the cave. Neither noticed the sad and understanding expression Blair bore them, because she understood the pain. She understood the nightmares. No one in the cave was going to escape Edom mentally unscathed- that was what Clary realised in that dark moment when her hopes reached rock bottom.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm so so sorry it's been almost a month since I last updated... :/ I've been trying to figure out how the rest of the story will go and I think that I know where it's going. I'd say it's about halfway through now but I plan to write more stories after this.**

 **I hope that you enjoy!**

...

Clary was awoken suddenly from her nightmares by a sharp, piercing scream. Her hand went to the dagger at her belt as she bolted upright and rose to her feet, taking a defensive stance, her hand gripped tightly on the cold, smooth weapon handle. Unsurprisingly, Jace, Alec, and Isabelle had also taken a typical shadowhunter stance, they looked deadly, sharp swords and seraph blades pointed toward the direction of the sound. Simon had got up and bore his fangs toward the dark cave corner where the scream continued to sound.

Magnus' cat eyes shone in the darkness and he rose to his feet. Having no weapon he backed behind Isabelle and Alec.

Jace muttered an angel's name under his breath, as did Alec , their seraph blades bursting alive at their cold command. Clary held her witchlight high in the air. The cave exploded with light and the sharp glare cast by Clary's stone illuminated Blair, contorted and withering on the ground.

"Get off!" she screamed, pushing at the air above her body as her limbs flailed uselessly, kicking at nothing.

"Jace, are there such things as invisible demons?" Clary spoke quietly to her boyfriend.

"Not that I've ever fought, and I have fought _a lot_ of demons in my life," he replied.

"Like every other shadowhunter Jace," Alec replied, rolling his eyes.

"Yes but I fight them handsomely, _very handsomely._ "

"Jace stop joking, we need to wake her up now, her screaming might have already attracted something out there," Alec said.

"Something like what?" Simon asked, probably not wanting to know but having to ask anyway.

"Best case scenario, a couple of unintelligent Shax demons show up which I can handsomely dispatch quickly; worst case scenario… well, a greater demon wouldn't be too fun, neither would any Endarkened or the murdering psychopath Sebastian." Jace looked over to Clary sadly.

Simon's eyes widened and he nervously swallowed before mumbling "I wouldn't be too keen on the latter..."

"Then we need to wake her up now!" Said Alec, turning toward Blair.

Alec lowered his hand holding the seraph blade and started stepping toward Blair, not sheathing his weapon; he cautiously made his way over to her. She had stopped screaming but still twisted and turned, attempting to escape some imaginary creature. Simon jogged up to Alec and they both knelt down next to Blair.

Simon extended his arms and took hold of Blair's shoulders and pushed her down against the ground; trying to hold her down whilst she kicked and screamed at this imaginary monster.

"Can we not use a rune?" Simon asked.

"No, if she's only got the Sight like she says she does, using the stele will kill her," Alec replied.

"Or we'll have a Forsaken on our hands," Added Isabelle.

Suddenly Blair shot upright and her eyes flew open, coal black in the shadows but then they started to glow their usual hazel as she came to, wildly looking around.

"There's no demon here," Clary started.

"Yet," Jace interjected.

"Was it just a bad dream?" Clary continued, ignoring Jace's interruption.

"Yes." The finality in Blair's tone made it clear that the matter had been settled.

A screech broke their heavy silence.

"What was that?" asked Simon.

"A demon screech," Jace answered, looking down some tunnels connecting to their cave.

The shriek sounded again, louder this time. Then again and again in quick succession, echoing the cavern walls.

"There's more than one of them, I suggest we run as we don't have many seraph blades left," Alec raised his voice to be heard over the shrieking.

The group jogged over to the cave entrance, looking out to the plains of Edom. The sun rose, a large orange orb, painting colour in the midnight blue sky. The land looked barren, no structure in sight, except the ruins of Sebastian's castle and in the opposite direction a little black structure in the distance-the crumbling city of the capital, previously inhabited by an alternate band of Shadowhunters, now long gone.

As if reading Clary's mind, Jace said: "So our options are: barren land, Sebastian or ruins possibly infested with demons…"

"Well our choice depends whether you want to be enslaved and possibly executed by a madman, die of dehydration out on the plains or brave a few demons,"

Like the stretching lands of Edom, a hopeless silence extended between them.

"I quite like my head on top of my head so let's steer away from Sebastian. My suggestion is the latter," said Magnus and no one bothered to argue.

Without any more words, the group ran in the direction of the ruined city, uneasily looking back toward the cave to see if the demons would follow out.

Soon the sun had risen higher into the sky, illuminating the land and a warm relief flooded over Clary, the demons would unlikely follow out now.

Clary and Jace slowed their run to a walk, looking back to see the others do the same. As long as they made the city before nightfall, which they hopefully would, there was no worry of demons. Clary reached out and took Jace's hand, seeking comfort in the fact that they were, somehow, still alive. They could yet still make it out of this place. Hopefully.

Jace looked over at her, showing such love in his face, Clary was torn between smiling and crying. Smiling because their love still burnt through all the evil they had been through. They were still together. She also wanted to cry because she couldn't imagine losing him. Losing her Jace, the person who she had fought for, who she had stabbed with Heosphoros, who she thought was her brother, who had taught her to be a Shadowhunter. Who had helped her discover who she really was. Her saviour. Her angel boy.

...

"It wasn't just a dream, was it?" Magnus spoke quietly to Blair. He had slowed down to fall in step with her. Alec was a little behind them, just out of earshot and Isabelle and Simon was in front, with Clary and Jace in the lead.

"How did you know?" Blair whispered.

"You can only be so scared of something imaginary. The fear I saw in your eyes when you woke was pure terror. I very much doubt that you were just imagining. Maybe it was just a bad nightmare, but I'm not so sure."

"It happened a couple of times when Sebastian kept me in the castle. I thought maybe it would go away once I escaped." Blair sighed.

"But did you really escape?" Magnus looked over and locked gazes with the girl.

"Are you suggesting that Sebastian let me go?" She said, showing little emotion.

"Or that he wanted you to go. We are dealing with no fool, do not underestimate him, Blair. I don't know who or what you are or why you are even here but you should not underestimate him, just as I do not underestimate you."

"I don't miscalculate him, I know what he's like. Anyone who can carry out torturous experiments like him cannot be trusted. Mistakes like that cost lives."

"Yes, they do. I've many years' experience, and I've never seen anyone like you, but I am choosing to trust that you will bring no harm to my friends," Magnus glanced back toward Alec, who was currently scanning the landscape.

"So as a sign of goodwill," Magnus pulled a small ring off his finger and dropped it into Blair's palm. "Wear this and it should help with the nightmares.

Blair held the ring up to the sunlight. It was beautiful. The silver was twisted, almost like a plait, with a green gem entwined with the metal. In the sunlight, it glinted like an emerald.

"Thank you," Blair said and pushed the ring onto her finger.

"What is the green? A gem?" She asked.

Magnus simply smiled and slowed his walking until he was in line with Alec, and the two began to talk. Blair turned to face forward and continued to walk. The ring felt heavy on her finger but still comforting. It brought a sense of being caged, but as if only bad things inside her had been trapped and she was left feeling light and happy, freer from the demons which had haunted her dreams a mere hour before. But a lot can change in an hour.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! Sorry it's been a while :/ Hope you enjoy and reviews are always appreciated :)**

The sun beat down mercilessly, enveloping Clary in such humidity that she felt slightly dizzy; she had not experienced such heat like this living in Brooklyn. It was sometimes hot back home in the summer months, however here Edom vaguely resembled a desert. Today was the hottest day since they had arrived, and Clary suspected that her skin would burn.

She had been walking beside Jace at the front of the group. She had held his hand at first, seeking comfort but after a while, their hands had become so sweaty that she had let go. Clary turned around to look at the others.

Alec, Simon, and Isabelle were just behind them. Simon was kicking small rocks as he strolled, mostly looking down but he kept eyeing Isabelle, but she was too preoccupied drinking water from her canister, in between sips murmuring something to Alec, who looked too distracted to be listening to her. He kept glancing behind to where Magnus was walking just a few paces behind. Clary felt sorry for Alec, he still loved Magnus, possibly even more than he had when they were together. She knew his pain, loving someone but never being with them. She and Jace had experienced so much pain with their love. Their story was filled with countless obstacles which had prevented them from being together but they had overcome them all. At least they could be happy with each other now.

Blair was just behind Magnus, looking forward toward Isabelle and Simon, probably listening to their mundane conversation. As if sensing Clary's stare, she switched her gaze to the redhead. Clary offered a thin smile, feeling a little guilty for staring. Blair curved her mouth upward slightly but her eyes still looked more calculating than friendly. She then looked down at the sand. Her blonde hair fell down to frame her angular face. Her hair was more platinum compared to Jace's golden locks which glinted in the sunlight as she turned to face her boyfriend.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked with a chuckle.

"I was just thinking about everything we've gone through to be together, and it's finally happened," Clary responded.

"Well, not every couple have thought they were siblings at one time," Jace said with a smile, but a sadness gleamed in his eyes at all the heartache caused by Valentine lying to them.

Clary looked upward; the sun was at its peak. A blazing orb in the bright sky, emitting light and heat to all that had the misfortune of walking the barren land of Edom. But then she supposed some choose to live here- Sebastian chose. Maybe he felt at home here, like hell was the only place that he could belong. Then perhaps it was. He would be a little out of place anywhere else filled with… well…light. Clary thought to herself. Possibly that could be just the bad side of him, the evil side. Would her true brother want to live here? Rule here? If Jonathon and Sebastian were two different people, would they choose different lives and do different things?

"Jace, how to we save Sebastian?" Clary blurted out. Jace looked slightly taken aback by the question, but it was all Clary had been thinking about this whole time.

"You want to save him?" Jace questioned.

"If we can, I mean it's not his fault he is entirely evil, maybe if we could extract the darkness from him he would be a different pers…"

"No! I'm sorry Clary but he's done unforgivable things in his short life." Jace raised his voice and the rest of the group looked at them, everyone stopped walking at the same time.

"Clary, he murdered our brother, just because he was there. Max was no match for Sebastian so for fun he killed a child. That sort of person cannot be reformed. The question we should be answering is how we _kill_ him," Said Alec, anger blazing in his eyes and voice.

"But we've tried to kill him! Numerous times he has been inflicted with wounds which would be fatal to any other mundane or shadowhunter…maybe it's just not meant to be?" Clary bit back, angry at Alec for attempting to decide the fate of her brother. She instantly regretted arguing with him, as he and Isabelle had reason to want him dead more than everyone else- they had lost Max.

"Clary," Alec started, his muscles tensed and Clary noticed that his fists were turning white where he was curling his fingers inwards so fiercely.

"Amatis." Alec started listing names of the dead and Clary felt a tear slide down her face as guilt overwhelmed her.

"Rafael." A harsh look of pain crossed Magnus' eyes at the loss of his friend.

"Max." Isabelle tried to put a hand on her brother's shoulder but he brushed her off as he finished his point.

"What he supposedly did to Blair." Clary glanced over at the blonde to be met with her hazel eyes, which looked unemotional, there was no pain. Blair then looked away from Clary as Alec continued listing names.

"Even Jace was lost to us for some time. Look me in the eyes Clary, and tell me that Sebastian Morgenstern deserves to be saved." The two locked eyes, only for a few seconds but to Clary, it felt like an eternity.

"No, I can't… I'm sorry Alec, but he's my brother. I can't just throw him to the wolves by plotting ways to kill him!" Clary spoke quietly, trying to calm the situation, whilst still not giving up on her brother.

"Clary… your brother is the wolf. He is the predator and he is killing anything and everything in his way, even those who do nothing against him he is murdering for pleasure, _for fun_ ," Jace cut in, not angry at Clary, and he gripped her hand and squeezed it gently before letting go.

"I…" Clary struggled to answer back. She knew that Alec and Jace were right. She thought back to when she had once kissed her brother, as much as it nauseated her. The moment that their lips had met, she was swept off her feet and detached from her current reality. But it had been almost like a nightmare. An intense feeling of being swallowed by darkness, unable to escape but most of all it felt wrong, both because he was her brother but also he felt like an abomination of nature. Clary focused on that evil, what it felt like to be connected in any way to Sebastian Morgenstern. She concentrated on how evil he could be, and tried to fuse this evil with her brother so she could say what she needed to:

"So how do we kill him?" The words felt foreign on her lips- as if she had become a different person to try and kill her own brother.

"I cannot give a step-by-step answer to that but I think I might be able to help out slightly on why we can't kill him like a normal shadowhunter, or closer to his actual self, demon."

"Please do continue," Alec turned to face his once-boyfriend.

"I believe that we cannot kill him because he is no part angel like you shadowhunters so we cannot use darkness to kill him…"

"Darkness?" Jace questioned.

"The things that would kill off you lot, like a demon bite for example," Magnus seems slightly irritated at being interrupted.

"As I was saying, that cannot kill him, but he is neither wholly demon,"

"I think you're mistaken there, we've had many conversations referring to him as a demon," said Simon, and Alec nodded along with him in agreement.

Magnus rolled his eyes in frustration at their lack of understanding. "Yes you do but he is not a demon. Normal demons have nowhere near the intelligence of a shadowhunter, which is what makes them fairly easy to dispose of, they only have their numbers on their side, shadowhunters are both stronger, most of the time, and they are far more intellectual. Greater demons are cunning, but they lack any good emotion, like attachment to another person. Whatever he felt in that apartment with Jace and Clary wasn't love, but he still didn't kill them, and he protected them. He also does not possess any magic, as far as I know, so he can't be a demon.

"The only other option I considered was that he was like Lilith however, he can't be as she is a fallen angel from the heavens, and Sebastian never was and never will be a demon. Again, Lilith has magic, which Sebastian doesn't. Since he isn't at least wholly demon the light you have in seraph blades is not strong enough to burn him. The only thing strong enough to do that was the heavenly fire, and a strong blast of that. But we lost the heavenly fire." Magnus concluded his explanation with a smile as he looked around at all the astonished faces around him.

"Wow, you thought that through thoroughly," Jace said.

"Well I had to do something whilst sitting in that cave whilst all of you lot were wallowing in your own misery and contemplating defeat," Although the words were harsh, Magnus said them lightly, not meaning to offend.

"We didn't lose the heavenly fire though, it is just…inaccessible, currently trapped in the sword," Blair spoke confidently, and when eyes turned to her she stood up tall, not shrinking back with fear as she had back in the cave. She's finally starting to open up to the group, Clary thought.

"Yes but we don't have the sword do we," Alec said harshly, he was hostile toward Blair, just as he had been to Clary when she had first come to the institute what felt like years ago, but in truth it really wasn't. Her life had changed so much since then.

"That's not my fault, I was merely suggesting where to start your grand assassination plan," Blair responded, not taking her eyes of Alec, challenging him to answer back as foully as he had before.

"Anyway…" Jace interjected, "So let's not think about Sebastian right now," he looked across at his girlfriend and offered a friendly, knowing smile. "Let's concentrate our efforts on finding the sword for now because we can't face Sebastian without it."

"Also, I'm surprised that we haven't run into him yet, he was watching Clary and I whilst we were in Alicante, yet in a land which he rules, he can't find us? It just doesn't add up," Jace thought out loud.

"Where did you leave the sword then Clary? After you tried to…" Simon didn't finish the sentence. Clary felt slightly guilty. She had failed her mission, had submitted to Sebastian then defied him and tried to murder him, but failed. And everything that had happened since was a result of that.

"It was in his 'throne room' where I last saw all of you before you were locked in that room, but Sebastian knows that heavenly fire was in the sword, he talked about it when we were back at the stronghold so he never would want to leave a possibly fatal weapon behind. No, it must be near him. Probably not on him, but close, where he knows that no one else would be able to get it." Clary pondered about the location of the sword.

"I'd say it would be in a tomb, or a locked chest that he keeps in a room," Simon said excitedly, "I mean, that's what happens in movies and stuff," he finished.

"I'm not sure about a tomb unless you can find one just lying around in Edom," said Alec, looking upon Simon as if he were stupid.

"Technically a tomb can't lie around…" replied Jace.

"It won't be in a tomb, because even if there was one, Sebastian would want to be able to pick up the sword if he was ever threatened, or needed to move out quickly if say he found out where Clary was. It also wouldn't be in a chest as it would need to be big to hold a sword like Heosphoros, and that would attract too much attention if anyone ever wanted to look for it, it would be easy to find," commented Blair.

Alec glared over at her and looked as if he were about to snarl. "You seem to know a lot about the sword and Sebastian for a girl who was supposedly trapped in a dungeon," growled Alec.

"And you seem to know a diminutive amount about the sword and Sebastian for a shadowhunter on a mission to destroy the man then eradicate his followers." Blair didn't look angry in the slightest as she held her ground. She looked more frustrated at having to answer for herself when all she was doing was giving valuable advice.

Clary fought the urge to laugh; only Isabelle and Jace ever stood up to Alec and his angry outbursts. Jace sniggered next to her at the rage displayed on Alec's face and Isabelle's lips curved at the corners.

"I was just posing the question that we don't know if we can trust her," Alec made a dismissive gesture toward Blair.

"Well, right now we need all the advice and information that we can get so let her speak Alec, honestly… you and your temper," said Isabelle, glaring at her brother before smiling at Blair.

"My bet is that he would keep it with someone he trusts, probably one of the Endarkened, maybe one of his generals?" She finished, ignoring Alec's eyes on her.

"Yes but there's dozens of his followers, and we have no idea which one he would give it to, even if he did give it to one of them," Alec rubbed at his eyes in frustration.

"But that's the only plan we've got." Said Clary, filling the silence.

"Well there's nothing we can do from here, we need to keep walking until we come across something that can point us in the direction of where Sebastian is, or somewhere we can stay for the night as I don't like our chances out here in the open," replied Jace.

All in silent agreement, Jace and Clary turned and continued walking onward, the others in close pursuit. They continued travelling, murmuring to each other as they went walking for hours in the midday heat, until the sun started to go down, sinking toward the ground as if in slow motion; almost as a dramatic build up for when the moon would rise taking the place of the yellow orb, bringing with it the beauty of the stars, but also the dangers that accompanied night.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi, sorry it's been so long... *cringes from absent almost 5 months* but I found that I just didn't have any motivation for this story, so I've changed the direction of the story which involved just a little tweaking of the planning. It will continue, just probably in different perspectives so I can switch what I'm writing :)**

 **Also reviews speed along the writing process... jus' saying... :))**

"It is almost dark, I hope that you're not lying Jace," Alec growled, his mood growing fouler every second they were out traipsing the lands of Edom.

"Why would I lie to you, _parabatai?_ " Jace mocked his bond with Alec. The whole group really were fed up of walking seemingly aimlessly, especially so if even Jace was in an execrable frame of mind. "I can see it, a few building they look like, maybe a village."

"I cannot see anything!" Isabelle exclaimed. She turned to her brother, contorting her face to muster the worst scowl she could. Alec seemed to think she'd do this, and just avoided her expression- fixing his eyes on the horizon to this village Jace could see.

"Wait… I think I can see it too!" Clary called, grasping onto Jace's shoulder as she pulled herself up the small hill to look out over the barren plains of Edom.

The plains were empty, except for the small village that lay not too far from where the group were scouting. It wasn't that big, Clary spied only perhaps ten buildings making up the cluster. One was bigger than the others – a town hall? Clary thought. From where she was stood the red head could make out a few details of the buildings. They looked old- really old. Most likely the remnants of previous shadowhunters in this dimension.

"Ok, the sun is already setting and it'll take us 20 minutes to get down there so come on." Shouted Clary, loud enough so that Magnus and Blair who were trailing at the back could hear. Clary sauntered down the hill, building up speed as she went- obviously fearful that the sun would set and they'd be at the mercy of whatever demons Sebastian had likely sent after them.

"Clary!" Jace shouted from the top of the dune, his voice carrying downwards to where Clary was almost running in her eagerness to reach the village.

"Yeah?" questioned Clary, slowing down slightly but she was only less than 30 metres away from him. She turned to see him but he was full on sprinting towards her- his feet flying so fast that his heel was kicking up a snowstorm of dust in his wake. Clary frowned, _why was he running?_ Then she shifted her gaze to behind the gold-haired boy where Blair had appeared from above the mound of dirt, her eyes widening at something- _but what_?

That's when Clary felt it. A shift between the ground and her. Her feet started wobbling and shaking at the unevenness on the ground. The dirt was _moving_.

"Jace…" Clary said, unnerved, what was happening?

"Move Clary! Move!" He shouted, a few more seconds and he would be upon her and be able to protect her from whatever lay beneath her feet.

To her left the ground shook again and a pile of dirt shifted to reveal a black body, it looked like it had feathers, but Clary could only see a huge black shape moving upwards from the ground… and she was stood right on top of it. She suddenly felt cold, as if a wave of darkness had rolled over her and Clary's arms came out in goose bumps, it was getting freezing and she stopped squinting her eyes to look at the creature.

That's when she realised.

She'd stopped squinting- the sun had gone down. Clary looked to the horizon only to find that the star had melted down beneath the surface. They hadn't made it to the village in time, the sun had already set, Sebastian's demons could come out at any second. _But they were already out_. The last painted streaks of light in the sky had not yet diminished but the beast underneath Clary was obviously ready to come out into the night despite this.

 _Holy shit. There's a demon below me_. Clary suddenly snapped into realisation and whipped her head to look at Jace before springing into action. She drew a seraph blade from her belt… but it wasn't a seraph blade- it was a normal sword. _Damn,_ she'd given the seraph blade to Blair when they were running from the demons earlier so she could defend herself, which meant she could only wound the thing beneath her. Clary mentally sighed at her stupidity before gripping onto the sword and loosening a hunting knife- just in case.

Clary took a fighting stance and balanced herself- which was difficult considering the demon she was currently stood on was thrashing and wiggling, attempting to reach her with one of its…tentacles? Clary honestly had no idea what the limbs were, but she ducked as one flew over the top of her head to crash into the ground by the side, sending jolts into her legs. _That could've been my head_. She thought nervously.

With that, the shadowhunter jumped over the next tentacle that came flying near her before raising the blade above her head and plunging it deep into the dirt so it collided with the demon, making a loud squelch as the sword embedded into its fatty flesh. Clary grimaced at the sound, but still took some delight in it as ichor began squirting out of the wound she's inflicted.

But her satisfaction quickly turned to horror as the demon instead reared up so it launched higher in the air, the ground beneath Clary turning vertical so she had to hold onto the sword to keep from falling to the ground. She was now dangling in the air, keeping a death grip on the sword as she prepared to drop down to the ground, which was about 10 feet from the ground. This demon was huge- probably about 15 feet tall, Clary thought.

She dropped, letting go of the sword and landing swiftly to the floor, rolling over to slow down her momentum- like Jace had taught her. That's when she looked over to her golden-haired boyfriend. He was ducking flying tentacles whilst slashing out with a seraph blade at the demon- making more damage than Clary had, she thought sheepishly.

Alec was still stood up the top of the hill, having withdrawn his bow, firing arrow after arrow in succession at the beast whilst Izzy cut crude slices with her whip at the demon. Magnus, Blair and Simon stood helpless from the side, not wanting to get hurt. Clary didn't blame them.

"CLARY!" Isabelle shouted in warning as one of the tentacles came soaring toward her, she'd been too caught up with the other shadowhunter's battle to think about herself. She managed to dodge the first one but then a second came back at her and hit her right in the gut. Clary keeled over from the force of the impact, clutching her stomach from the pain.

Black stars danced at the corners of her vision, threatening to take control. Clary fought them off and looked up to stay aware in case another limb came at her. Izzy seemed to be the only one who'd noticed but couldn't do anything about it, as the demon had grasped onto her whip, attempting to wrench it off her.

Then another black shape appeared in Clary's vision. _Please don't black out, stay conscience, stay conscience Clary_. She thought to herself. Fainting would just complicate everyone else. _But why did it hurt so much?_ That's when she removed her hand to look at the blood staining her hands and clothes. The demon must've had poison on its tentacles, it was the only thing that could explain the agony and burning sensation around her belly.

But the black shape just kept getting closer and closer, then Clary realised… it wasn't just her, it was another demon, but a winged one.

 _No no no no no no_ she thought before it snatched her shoulders with it talons and suddenly, Clary was flying in the air. The winged demon gripped onto her shoulders with its claws and Clary let out an anguished cry at the searing pain all over her body. Jace looked up at her and yelled out something but she couldn't hear. She couldn't hear anything, then soon she couldn't see anything either. Then even the flapping wings were a faint sound in the distance.

A black abyss wrapped around her and Clary fell into a pained sleep as she was carried up and over the plains of Edom.

 **Also sorry it's not that long, the next chapters will be (at least I'm aiming for 2500+ words) longer cause this one is only roughly 1,500... :/**


	12. Chapter 12

**So, a new years resolution for me is to be more active on here, because I left you hanging from August to January, which I am EXTREMELY sorry about, but the traffic stats were going down, there weren't many reviews and, idk, just wasn't feeling it.**

 **This chapter is a little shorter, but it's setting up for Sebastian to be reintroduced and (I'll be honest) I missed him in this story and his psychopathic behaviour so I'll hopefully be feeling the story a bit more.**

 **Please don't forget to follow and review! It really means a lot that people appreciate what I write :)**

In his anger, Jace slashed furiously at the demon that had emerged from the sand.

With his newfound fury, he managed to impale it with the seraph blade in a matter of seconds after Clary had been taken. The demon made a loud screeching, like nails being dragged across a chalkboard before exploding into a puff of black smoke then disappearing back to its realm.

They all looked up to the night sky, shocked to see Clary being lifted into the air so quickly, that you could barely see her, or where she went. The faint black lines of her arms and legs were visible from the ground, flailing in the air until suddenly she went still, like a carcas hanging from a vulture's grip. Alec wondered if she'd been killed… but that would be impossible. Every demon here worked for Sebastian- after all, he was the son of Lilith- their ruler. No, she wouldn't be killed, Sebastian desired her too much for that.

Alec sighed, it was only a matter of time before they were found. They all knew that Clary's brother would stop at nothing to get her back after they'd escaped the stronghold. His lust for her really was unsettling, Alec felt a shiver run down his spine as he thought of what Clary would likely face as soon as she fell into his hands. He just imagined Isabelle undergoing that torment… no. he would've stopped at nothing if his sister was taken. _I suppose I owe Clary the same courtesy._ He thought.

As much as he'd disliked Clary not too long ago, she was family now. He knew Jace would go after her, and it was his duty to go with his parabatai and save her. Hopefully it wasn't too late.

When there was nothing left of the demon, it's body transported to another world, a deathly silence took hold in which the only sound was Jace's angered breathing as he watched a now still Clary be carried off until they were little more than a black speck in the night sky.

"Jace…" Alec started.

"Don't." Jace cut him off abruptly, lowering his head slightly to look down, his golden locks falling down in front of his eyes. They'd grown considerably in the recent few weeks- Alec thought. He looked like a ragged shadowhunter, and the furious anger his eyes had held only moments ago made him seem wild, like a rabid animal.

Jace broke the silence by turning on his heel and trekking back in the direction that the demon had taken Clary, east of where they were heading. He hadn't sheathed his blade yet- probably because night was upon them, and the screeching calls of demon monsters could be heard faintly on the wind.

"Jace," Alec continued, "this isn't a good idea and you know it!" he spoke calmly, knowing from years of friendship with his parabatai, that no amount of shouting would ever get through to him if he were on a mission. And he was now- a mission to find Clary.

Alec heard a faint mumble that could've been "I don't care" but he couldn't quite make it out as Jace moved farther and farther away. No one else made a move after Jace to follow him- most likely to certain death at Sebastian's hands- as he continued on away.

With a sigh, Alec turned to look at the rest of the group. Isabelle, with her usual perfect hair, looked scruffy- they all needed a break from the endless torment and fear of death. But Simon still looked at her with such awe, as if she was an angel who had just fallen from heaven for him. Magnus looked like he could barely stand any longer with the walking and trudging through Edom. Blair just stared at him, her wide eyes revealing no emotion as she seemed to study him. Alec couldn't help but feel hostile every time she looked at him. All shadowhunters were trained to be distrustful of anyone who wasn't their kind but he felt overly-sceptical about her.

"I…" Alec started. He was torn- Jace was in imminent danger and needed his parabatai to help protect him, fight with him. _Talk sense into him_ he thought silently. Izzy could take care of the group, she was always capable of anything she did, but he didn't want to abandon her and the others. What is something happened to them? His sister, and then Magnus, his… _ex?_ He didn't even know what the warlock was to him anymore. But he loved them both so deeply, so passionately. If they died… if either one of them died… his life would be taken from him, everything he stood for, everything he fought for would exist no longer and Alec knew he would deteriorate into a lifeless skeleton of a shadowhunter.

When you are a shadowhunter, you live by the sword to protect those you love. If there was nothing on the other side of that violence, no reason to step away from fighting and put down the seraph blade then Alec would be no better than Sebastian- killing because he could, killing because it gave him power. That sanity that trickled through his subconscious every time he killed a demon that kept him threaded to the real world would just stop affecting him. And he needed that sanity to be a person, to stay detached when need be, but still feel, have emotion. Instead of turning into a murderous psychopath.

"You can go, if you want ." Izzy seemed to read his mind, see the decision he was trying to make.

"Really? Are you sure that you can get everyone into the village and then clear it out if anyone's there?" He asked, a worried expression on his face.

Izzy's eyebrows furrowed, "Of course, you think me so irresponsible," she said, rolling her eyes for exaggeration and glancing round at the others, taking on a mothering role almost immediately.

"Thanks, you really are the best," Alec admitted, to which Izzy replied with an almost mocking grin.

"Okay, just tell me that next time we're in Idris and training… and I'm kicking your arse." She said seriously… because she probably could.

"Don't build up your ego too much." Alec replied, smiling before pulling his sister into a loving embrace. _Be careful_. He thought.

"I'll be careful," she responded, seemingly reading his mind. "We'll get in there, find a building then lie low until one of you comes back, or if I see any sign of danger, we _will_ come running." Izzy finished.

"I know. I'll bring him back, and Clary if we can find her." Alec knew there was no point arguing with her. Family was the most important thing to the Lightwood's, they stood together.

With that, he smiled at the others, even Blair. But he gave her a final warning glance. _Don't try anything._ If she picked up what his eyes were conveying, she didn't show it.

Alec turned and ran off to the east, catching up with Jace fairly quickly.

They didn't exchange words, a quick glance at his brother and they both knew what had happened, and how Alec was there to help him get Clary back.

 _Shall we, brother?_ Alec questioned with his eyes.

Jace gave a faint smile, as if he wasn't complete without Clary, before nodding and grasping Alec's hand in his. He held the gesture for a couple of seconds until he dropped his hand to grip his belt; his fingers twitching to hold the seraph blade.

Alec felt like sighing. Jace did get into a painfully violent mood when something he wanted was taken from him.

"Onwards we go." Whispered Jace, barely loud enough for Alec to hear, but nonetheless the parabatai pair walked away from the remainder of their group to the east, about to pull of what would undoubtedly be, the most ridiculous heist on Sebastian's forces that anyone would live to tell the tale of. That was, if they survived to tell it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello again,**

 **So I've added something in this chapter that isn't in the books but is in the TV show. I'm sorry if this bothers you, I'll explain a bit more at the end of the chapter about that. I prefer the books but the thing in the TV show had to be added to the chapter for it to make sense so sorry if you're a die-hard TMI books fan :/**

 **Also, due to some of the more... mature things in this chapter, unfortunately, I've amped up the rating for the fic to an M. I'm really sorry if you're a young teen reader but I don't want someone too young reading this. If you do think this chapter is suitable for a T rating still, message me and I'll change it again but from the guidelines, that's just how I placed it.**

 **If you don't want to read this, skip to the next chapter which I'll try to get up in the next couple of weeks.**

 **Enjoy :)**

Clary opened her eyes groggily, not very aware of the movements around her. She rubbed at her eyes which were still dusted and sore with the remnants of a long sleep. However, the brush of cool lips against her cheek had Clary waking up and alert almost instantly.

"Well, this is a nice wake-up call." She murmured, her voice still hoarse from sleeping.

Clary smiled with complete content staring up at her golden haired boyfriend. She was laying down somewhere, probably a bed but she didn't really care, all that mattered was him. He was hovered over her, just grinning down at her. He was all she could see, all she wanted to see in that moment, a snippet of the bliss they could have after the war.

She could keep looking into the liquid pools of gold that were his eyes all day. She could see all the emotion there, the happiness he felt whenever he saw her. The glint in his eyes that could've been the sun reflecting off them, but it only ever appeared when she was there. She hoped it was the latter.

Jace reached out with his hand to stroke her fiery hair. The coolness of the ring on his finger skimming against her cheek, sending shivers through her. He took a lock of her hair and played with it between his fingers, looping it round and round, all the while beaming down at her.

Clary leaned forward, kissing him deeply, a kiss meant to show him the love she felt, the want she held from when she first set her eyes on him in Brooklyn, then their journey to Idris, now here- in this bed. He responded against her, moving his mouth, enticing her with his taste of apples and cinnamon. He felt dark, like she could lose herself in him. He was like a whirlpool that was sucking her in, giving her more power as he explored her mouth with his tongue, giving herself over to him.

She took his bottom lip between her teeth, nibbling slightly, resulting in a passionate groan from deep in his throat. The sound made her shiver with anticipation. A tingling spread outwards from deep in her chest, reaching her toes and fingertips, igniting her body with electricity.

Her hands spread out toward him and grasped at the plain fabric of his shirt, tugging it upwards inch by inch, slowly unveiling his decorated torso. Once he'd pulled it off she leaned back to admire his perfectly sculpted chest. He had such defined muscles from years of training. Very thin white scars adorned his abs but they seemed to make him who he was. A man who'd grown in a dangerous world filled with demons and people who wanted to hurt him, but all they manged were small nicks on his skin. He was indestructible to anyone and anything, even her love had brought him back from the dead… with some help from an angel. She felt dazed with lust just looking at his body. _He was just so beautiful._

A suspense took hold in the air, Clary almost felt the humidity rippling from their bodies. The atmosphere seemed to thicken with a strong sensation of lust.

Clary reached out to run her fingers across his chest, feeling each groove and ridge, wanting to savour each moment. She wanted to explore every inch of his body, and it seemed like she had all the time in the world to do just that. Clary placed her hands on Jace's lower back and raked her nails along the dip of spine, resulting in growl sounding on his lips.

That's when Clary decided she wanted to draw him again. She had lost all passion in drawing as of late, but seeing such a piece of art before her… she giggled at the thought. But he really was like a perfect sculpture. Nothing about him was imperfect. Even the scars seemed to adorn him, decorate him rather than weaken him.

"I love you Clary, you… you're unlike any girl I've ever met. You are so fiery, you feel so _alive_. Whenever I'm near you, or touching you, I feel like fire courses through my veins. Burning me until you touch me and I… I just want you to be mine. But he keeps taking you." Jace whispered the words to her, he didn't need to speak up for her to understand, she clearly knew the depth to what he'd said. How much he cared for her, and how much she cared for him. Then Sebastian…

"I love you too Jace, so, so much. But I'm here with you now, I got away from him- remember?" She murmured against his throat. Once she'd finished speaking, Clary started nibbling at that sweet spot where his neck met his shoulder.

"But…" he was struggling to string together words as Clary spread her legs to wrap them around his waist, moving her hips ever so slowly as she did. Clary gave a sly smile at how her actions could make him squirm like this.

Sebastian, Clary thought. Jace shouldn't have even brought him up. She thought of his white hair and evil, menacing grin now invaded her mind.

"Please don't talk about him." Clary cut off whatever sentence he was in the middle of trying to string together. She then closed her eyes, trying to shut out any thoughts of him.

"But what if he gets his hands on you again?" Jace said in between kissing her throat. He then began to leave a trail of kisses down to her navel that had her almost squeal in delight.

"He won't. I promise." Clary whispered into the air, no longer looking at Jace as she leaned back happily, letting him do wonders to her body.

"Okay, let me know when to stop." Jace said, before gently tugging at the top of her jeans, unbuttoning and then zipping them down without fumbling once. He didn't seem scared or nervous at all- unlike Clary who was starting to get worried to where this would lead, but she trusted Jace to stop when she asked.

But the effortless grace at which he was working at her jeans made her wonder just how many lovers he'd had in the past. The thought of Jace with anyone else made Clary feel more jealous than it probably should have. After all, he hadn't even known her and she was still in Brooklyn, dreaming of art school.

Clary had barely noticed but her jeans were now thrown on the floor, and she suddenly felt exposed, perhaps a little uncomfortably. Were they really going to do this? Well, she'd been waiting to do so for a while, but this just didn't seem like the time or place- she didn't even know what bed they were in.

Tension built in the room, anticipation of what he was going to do next, but instead of staying down where he was, Jace lifted himself up and positioned his body just above hers. Clary opened her eyes again to gaze into his molten gold orbs. They were like the sun, two little stars glowing fiercely. But they now had a feverish gleam in them.

"What do you look so happy about?" Clary said with a smile.

"I've just been waiting for this moment for some time now," he replied, still looking frenzied.

Despite feeling almost perfectly blissful in that moment, Clary couldn't help but notice that Jace looked a little… different. But she couldn't put her finger on it. Clary lifted her hand to rest it on his shoulder, about to pull him closer to her, but he was feeling so warm.

"Jace, your body is so hot." She said, narrowing her eyes as to why he seemed to so warm to the touch.

"Yes I know, all the girls in Idris do tend to say the same. I've caught some fainting at the sight of me in summer, when I come back from training… shirtless." He replied with a grin, seemingly back to his usual charismatic, sarcastic self. Clary rolled her eyes at him and continued to roam her hand across his torso, coming across a newly drawn rune on his breastbone.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that you've come across a woman who won't faint at the sight of you. Sorry for the hit to your ego," Clary replied whilst smiling, not serious at all, tracing the outline of the rune on his chest.

"My ego could never be hit, I've had years to build it up." Jace replied, grinning before pulling her in for another kiss. But Clary didn't feel the intensity that she had before, the electricity, the spark between them seemed to have resided, just slightly. "But, if you must know, this heat is pure sexual arousal, and sorry to inform you that though you may not be fainting like most other girls, you are so delightfully hot to the touch," He traced along her collarbone which sent tingles through her body, almost as if to prove his point.

His hands found the hem of her shirt and tugged it off her head before Clary had a chance to protest.

"Jace…" she started, breaking off their embrace, but his mouth found hers again, preventing her from speaking out. This didn't feel right, she almost wanted to stop but his kiss… every movement about him was enticing, his scent, the way his tongue filled her mouth and how he touched her wiped away all traces of doubt that kept creeping into her mind. She mumbled against his mouth, but he continued to kiss her, before going on to biting her lower lip. Every passing second that his lips were against hers she lost another ounce of self-control.

Just like earlier, this made her body set on fire and scream with need and want. She moaned his name, all thoughts of what she'd been trying to say now lost. They'd escaped to the back of her mind, shut away so that all the red-head could think about was the feeling of his mouth on hers. His body pressed against hers- he legs wrapped around waist- ankles rubbing against his bare lower back, encouraging him to continue with devouring her.

She leant back from the kiss slightly to speak, and this time he let her.

"I don't want to go all the way- okay?" she said shakily, panting from the draining kiss. His breaths were shallow and coming rapidly against her. She couldn't believe that this reaction was from _her._ She'd never been with anyone before, anything Clary was doing was out of pure instinct- but it seemed to be turning him on. She was a virgin with next to no experience in men. Yet Jace seemed to want to do nothing but touch and feel her.

"Okay…" Jace began, but he lowered his gaze to her hips, currently pressed against his groin, and the hardness there. "but your body seems to say otherwise," he purred, taking in her flushed cheeks as she followed his gaze to what reaction she was having on him. He looked into her eyes, pupils dilated so she looked wild. Combined with her ruffled hair and reddening face- she'd lost her usual modest state. He had reduced her to this. With a wicked gleam in his eyes, Jace leaned back against the bed, causing Clary to fly on top of him, resting with her legs spread, sitting on his groin. She let out an almost childish giggle as she smiled down at him.

And he was so right, Clary thought. Her body was betraying her, and now that her mouth was away from his, sanity crawled back to her. She felt embarrassed, she didn't want to lose control like that, it wasn't who she was. But Jace seemed to enjoy the worried look in her eyes.

Her body may have been saying otherwise, but she knew Jace would respect her decision to stop before things got too far.

"But seriously, stop when I say so," Clary said with finality as his eyes raked over her body, settling their gaze on her simple, cotton bra. She gulped down her nervousness at the hunger, the lust in his eyes as he took in her almost bare torso.

Clary felt the hardness beneath her grow even more. Heat pooled from places she hadn't even known existed until this moment. Damn- she could think logically all she wanted but just him looking at her this way made her limbs feel like jelly under his hard body.

The lustful look he gave her. But whilst she wasn't locking lips with him, Clary realised it was just lust. No that loving look that Jace would always give her. The look that told her he'd be there for her through both the bad and good. The love that survived through so much torment in the shadow world. The love that wasn't in his gleaming eyes.

"I… I'm sorry Jace, but I don't want to…" the redhead let out a shaky breath as she attempted to slide off his body, extracting her legs that were wrapped around him, minimising their touch.

But she'd barely moved one leg when his hands jutted out from his sides to grab hold of her thighs and press down, with enough force to keep her there, but not enough to hurt her. But still it felt uncomfortable. She started to become painstakingly aware of how she stood before him in nothing but plain cotton panties and a bra whilst he still had his jeans on.

 _At least for that then,_ Clary thought, thinking about the position she was sat in. If he didn't have his trousers on… Clary could already feel him pressing against her.

"Now now…surely I couldn't change your mind?" Jace smirked, but it made Clary feel more worried than anything else. He wasn't being playful now- he knew she didn't want to do anything more but was still pressing on.

"Jace, I wasn't kidding," Clary replied, hoping that her unfaltering emotionless mask would deter him from anymore… actions.

But he reached forward and cupped her cheek in his hand, sliding his thumb across her cheekbone, then moving his forefinger to play with her lower lip, rubbing his finger against it then sliding across. However Clary felt no arousal- _why wasn't he respecting her?_ She shook her head slightly, so that he wasn't touching her face anymore. Clary felt a rush of relief at that, but he still hadn't loosened his grip on her things.

"Why not, Clary? We've already come this far- just relax, okay?" Jace said soothingly, which seemed to slow down Clary's heartrate just slightly so she felt a little less tense. She relaxed her muscles ever so slightly, but he seemed to take this as an invitation and with his right hand, let go of her thigh and started to tug at the top of her pants.

"No. Stop." She said sternly but his smile only broadened. He moved both hands to her back, about to unclasp her bra.

"Jace!" she shouted loudly, jumping off him and clambering off the bed in what was probably an extremely ungraceful manner. "How dare you?" she cried, shooting daggers at him with her eyes which were now narrowed.

He only continued to smile and was staring at her… _shit!_ He'd managed to undo her white bra and she was stood utterly exposed to him. They'd never gone this far and she didn't want the first moment of her being naked in front of him to be like this. She didn't want to feel so… exposed.

She wrapped her arms around her torso in an attempt to cover herself up. Her eyes raked over the room to try and find a piece of clothing, or something to cover herself with but in the room, the only things were the clothes they'd stripped off just minutes ago… on the other side of the bed. She would have to crawl over Jace to get to them.

"Jace, give me my shirt." She nodded toward the fabric on the other side of him, the tone of her voice demanding enough that it should be clear- Clary was not in a pleasing mood.

"But I do rather enjoy taking in the sight of you like this," he spoke with such ease, such cruel words that Jace had never uttered to Clary, not once. He respected her- and her modesty.

"What's that rune on your chest?" Clary questioned, changing the topic. If he wouldn't give the shirt to her, she didn't want to make him angry but repeatedly asking. She wanted to but was smarter than that. She'd never encountered Jace acting like this before- she didn't know what he'd do- if his patience would wear thin.

"This rune?" he said, standing up, off the bed and pointing to the rune Clary had been tracing earlier, the on the skin above his sternum. It was new- it hadn't quite healed yet but she didn't recognise it. "Well, it's quite new to the Shadow world and very useful I may add." With every word, he took a step toward her. He was already halfway across the room.

"Please, stay there." Clary squeaked; feeling… scared? She was scared of Jace. That thought terrified her more than this unpredictable Jace standing a mere couple of metres from her. If she couldn't trust him, wasn't comfortable with him, was there any future for them?

"Come on now, Clarissa, does it not speak to you? Can you not feel what it says to you? The emotions and thicknesses of lines and the shapes that whisper to you what it speaks of? What it does? I really did think you'd have worked it out by now." He grinned. He was now standing directly in front of her. Clary did her best to squeeze her breasts to her forearms, covering them as best she could.

This seemed to annoy him, as he reached out and with the ease of years of training, he pulled her wrists away and held them on either side of her head against the wall. _She'd backed up away from him until she was against a wall. Great shadowhunter skills there, Clary._ She muttered to herself.

"Look at the rune, Clarissa." He spoke firmly. With no hint of love whatsoever. That's when it clicked- this wasn't Jace, it made sense. That feeling of wrongness whilst she'd been kissing him, the lack of love, how he didn't call her Clary but Clarissa…

"Sebastian?" Clary's eyes widened in disbelief and shock. She looked down at the rune and feelings of difference and change flooded through her. She suddenly felt lifeless, as if she wasn't in a body, that she wasn't in her own skin. This was the rune of transfiguration to another person. This wasn't Jace- it was Sebastian looking like Jace. "Earlier, when you said that 'he' kept taking me away… you weren't taking about Sebastian kidnapping me. You were talking about Jace saving me. Because Jace keeps saving me from _you!_ " Clary's mind started racing and going off in so many different directions. A myriad of fears converged on her. _How would she get out? What would he do to her?_ She tried desperately to glance around the room and try to find something- anything – to be used as a weapon or defence but there was nothing. The room was purposely bare, he'd planned this. And she'd fallen right into his trap. _Shit._

"Oh dear sister, how I longed for the day you would ever so kindly join me." He started to say. As he spoke, the golden locks that Clary had loved for months now shortened slowly, turning paler and paler until they looked bleached. His golden eyes darkened until they were almost black, his skin became paler and Jace's broad shoulders narrowed just slightly, fitting to Sebastian's more slender frame but his lean muscles still remained. Especially in his arms, which were tensed as Clary struggled to break free of the steel lock he kept her in.

"You!" Clary shouted. "You vile, twisted prat! You fucking maniacal sick son of a bitch! How dare you trick me in such a deceiving manner and then undress me like that! You tried to defile me like that! You're my brother and…" He quickly let go of her arm to backhand her face harshly so that the left side of Clary's face started to sting painfully. She was sure it was glowing red now... if she wasn't already red from the fury that coursed through her blood.

He let out an angry snarl and grasped Clary by the back of her head by her hair. He tugged swiftly and Clary had to keep her hands wrapped around his iron grip for fear her hair would be entirely pulled out. Tears welled in her eyes as he pushed her violently back onto the bed.

"Say that you're fucking sorry, Clarissa." He whispered close to her ear, the words so quiet now that they felt even more deadly.

"What difference would it…" He backhanded her again before she could finish her sentence. She was starting to see stars, the corners of her vision turning dark with a tint of red. She was terrified yet furious.

"Now that didn't sound like a 'sorry' to me" he spat with venom laced in every word.

"Sorry." Clary whimpered from beneath him. There were few moments in her life where she'd been genuinely terrified but this was one of them. She had absolutely no idea what he would do next to her. But the words that came out of his mouth next made Clary more fearful than ever.

"There, now that's sorted, let's have some fun- shall we?"

 **Ooooh...**

 **So the rune just needed to be in there but I hope that you don't mind.**

 **Please follow and review! :)**


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